To have a valid contract there must be 2 or more parties, there must be an Offer which can be expressed or implied as well as withdrawn at any time prior to being accepted. The offer needs to be definite as seen in Harvey vs Facey 1893 in this case Harvey sent a telegram asking Facey “Will you sell Bumper Hall Pen, telegraph lowest cash price” Facey replied by telegram stating, “Lowest cash price Bumper Hall Pen £900” Harvey accepted offer and then sued when he received...
To have a valid contract there must be 2 or more parties, there must be an Offer which can be expressed or implied as well as withdrawn at any time prior to being accepted. The offer needs to be definite as seen in Harvey vs Facey 1893 in this case Harvey sent a telegram asking Facey “Will you sell Bumper Hall Pen, telegraph lowest cash price” Facey replied by telegram stating, “Lowest cash price Bumper Hall Pen £900” Harvey accepted offer and then sued when he received no reply.
It was held that this was not an offer but an answer to an inquiry. An offer should not be confused with an invitation to treat, as seen in Pharmaceutical Society of GB v Boots Cash (Chemist southern) Ltd 1952 where it was held that the items on the shelves were not actually an offer but an invitation to treat.
The offer must be followed by an Acceptance. The acceptance can also be express or implied and must match the offer with no conditions attached as this would result in a counter offer and the destruction of the original offer as seen in Wolf & Wolf V Forfar Potato Co 1984, this involved an offer to sell potatoes which was accepted but varied the terms of original offer, the potatoes were not supplied and the company was sued, it was held as the acceptance did not match the original terms of the offer it was, in fact, a counter offer, therefore there was no contract. The contract is created at the time of acceptance.
