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What in law will amount to an offer?

(Illustrate your answer with case law)

The following essay will focus on the law of the contract and according with
this what it is the offer, the invitation to an agreement and the intention of the
relationship. It can happen that an offer is even a disadvantage for the one
who offers it, but it is still an offer. Moving on with what would be an offer; is
an expression of willingness to contract and definite terms, made with the
intention that it is to become binding as soon as it is accepted by the party to
whom it is addressed. And may be express or implied from conduct.

First of all an offer has to be expressed (as a proposal) with specific terms,
made with the intention that it has to be binding once the terms are accepted
by the offeree and differentiating it from an invitation to a treat, supply of
information and boast is significantly important. The contract can be bilateral
or unilateral depend on if the parties are both or just one assume the
obligation under contract. In a £ 63 horse sale the plaintiff promised to give an
additional £ 5 'if the horse was lucky'. At first glance, we may realize that this
promise is too vague to be legally enforced. (Gurthing v Lynn (1831). For this
reasons the offeror must be as much as possible clear in their offer. Also,
communicate all the conditions to the offeree. Other case examples of what
would not be an offer would be the following; (Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball
Company (1893)). The plaintiff bought a medical product called 'The Carbolic
Smoke Ball’ they issued an ad in which they claimed that after consuming the
product they would pay £ 100 if they contracted a flu. This is what exactly
happened to the plaintiff and for this reason he try to get the £ 100 'promised'
but the defendants nonetheless argued that there was no binding agreement.
This case show that an offer can be made to the whole world. Emphasizing
the case of Taylor v Laird (1856), the offer must be communicated to the
offeree. The main phase because without it there would be no possibility of
creating a contract. The claimant was employed as the captain of a ship,
which was owned by the defendants. He voluntarily gave up his position as
captain, and worked as an ordinary crew member during his passage back.
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The defendant was not made aware of this change of position. When they
land, he claims wages from the defendant for his work as a crew member
during the journey.

Moreover, furthermore a claimant gave evidence to the authorities to lead

them to the thieves of jewels. Later he realized that there was a reward from
the defendant if he helped find the thieves with some information.
Nevertheless, the defendant refused to pay. And the court held that the
defendant was not legally obliged to pay as no contract to do so existed
between the parties since the offer of the reward had not been communicated
to the claimant prior to his giving the information. (Bloom v American Swiss
Watch Co (1915)). In order not to be confused, it is important to differentiate
when a party made an invitation to offer or an offer to buy, it is known as an
invitation to treat and it is not the same as an offer. (Fisher v Bell (1961)). The
defendant saw displayed in a shop window a flick knife accompanied by a
price ticket. He thought that the sale of this kind of knife is not allowed
because of the Restrictions of Offensive Weapons Act 1959. The court held
that in accordance with the general principles of contract law, the display of
the knife was not an offer of sale but merely an invitation to treat. It is well
established in contract law that the display of an item in a shop window is an
invitation to potential customers to treat. The defendant was therefore not
guilty of the offence with which he had been charged.

Another key thing to remember it is that in the moment or acceptance of an

offer must be communicated to the offer, on this way both parties create a
contract legally binding by signing the respective documents and that the offer
must equivalent to acceptances. That means offeree the person who get offer
must accept all the terms of the offer. On the other hand, offeree introduces
new term or terms that different from the offer. As the result, offeror does not
accept with that different term or terms. Instead, the reply is treated as an
offer itself, a counter-offer which the offeror is free to accept or reject. (Hyde v
Wrench (1840)). Rejection (Hyde v Wrench (1840)), lapse of time (Ramsgate
Victoria Hotel v Montefiore (1866)) and death can be the other motives of the
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ending to an offer. When an offer had a time limit to accept it, it means that
once the term ends, the offer is no longer available.

Finally the conclusion would be that each 'contract' that is offered to you has
to be written down and signed by the two parties. On this way a legal
agreement is reached in which if needed to, be able to refer in the future.
Because the other options can be very uncertain, vague, or without a true
intention to create an agreement.
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REFERENCES

Global.oup.com. 2020. Oxford University Press - Homepage. [online]

Available at: <https://global.oup.com/?cc=gb> [Accessed 14 March 2020].

Heinonline.org. n.d. Redirecting.... [online] Available at:

<https://heinonline.org/HOL/LuceneSearch?
terms=offer+in+contract+law+&collection=journals&searchtype=advanced&ty
pea=text&tabfrom=&other_cols=yes&submit=Go> [Accessed 14 March 2020].

O'Gorman, Daniel P., 2013. Redefining offer in contract law. Mississippi Law
Journal, 82(6), p.1096.

Bix, B., 2012. Contract law rules, theory, and context, Cambridge [UK] ; New
York: Cambridge University Press.

GOV.UK. n.d. Employment Contracts. [online] Available at:

<https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/contract-terms>
[Accessed 16 March 2020].
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