Hi, you're listening to the Australian Law Student Law in
Four podcast. Your go to podcast for legal
insights in 4 minutes or less. I'm Nick Hodgkinson and today
we're starting our fantastic foray into contract law with a
discussion on agreement. But first, our obligatory
disclaimer. The Law in Four is produced by
law students. For law students, it is not, nor
is it intended to constitute legal advice.
If you require legal assistance, you should contact your local
Law Society, who can direct you appropriately.
For more information on the Australian law student, visit
our website at the ozlawstudent.com OK, let's kick
things off with offers. An offer, as distinguished from
an invitation to treat, signifies A willingness to enter
into a bargain with the intention to be bound without
further negotiation on the terms.
You might like to consider how the Court applied offer and
acceptance analysis differently in the cases of shop sales with
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and ticket cases with
Mcrobertson, Miller Airline Services.
In determining whether an offer exists, the reasonable person's
standard comes into play, as seen in Carlisle and Carbolic
Smokeball Company. If a reasonable person would
understand the language of the offer to be sufficiently clear,
sincere, and promissory, then an offer is likely to be present.
What about rescinding offers? Well, offers incompletely
accepted can be revoked without penalty, as observed in Mobil
Oil Australia and Welcome International.
However, if there is an ancillary contract not to
revoke, then the unaccepted contract may remain
unenforceable when a counter offer comes into play.
The conflict approach implies that a counter offer rejects or
terminates the original offer. In Butler Machine Tool Company
and XLO Corp, it's shown that acceptance occurs when the
offeree signs and returns the counter offer, indicating their
agreement. If we shift gears now to
acceptance, acceptance is defined as an act by the offeree
that indicates their unequivocal and final assent to the offer.
Silence upon receipt isn't sufficient to form a contract.
As demonstrated in Felt, House and Bindley Manifesto, descent
is required for offer and acceptance.
Acceptance can also take place via conduct where the offeree
knows the detailed terms, benefits from the offer, and has
a reasonable opportunity to project the terms.
As seen in Imperial Holdings and Mark and Paul Partners,
acceptance by post or electronic communication varies, with
postal acceptance occurring upon posting.
Where the postal method is contemplated by the parties, as
in Hentthorne and Fraser, NSW, electronic communications are
governed by the Electronic Transactions Act 2000.
When offer and acceptance are unclear, we apply the ACID test
per brambles Holdings in Bathurst City Council.
Mutual assent may be inferred if a reasonable person in each
party's position sees a concluded bargain despite the
moment of formation being indeterminable.
OK, and with that, we've unpacked the intricate dance of
offer and acceptance. Understanding these nuances is
key to navigating the legal landscape of contract law.
Join us next time for more legal insights on the Australian Law,
Student Law and Four Podcast. As always, if you have any
suggestions, please e-mail us at team@theozlawstudent.com or
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