Offer and Acceptance
• The foundations of any agreement
• Trentham v. Archital Luxfer Ltd [1993]
• 'the coincidence of offer and acceptance will in
the vast majority of cases represent the mechanism of contract
formation.'
• Defining an offer
• A clear and unambiguous statement of the terms upon which the offeror is willing to
contract
• Offer must be definite
• Central Meats v Carney [1944]
• An offer to exchange 'as many cattle as possible' was too vague
• Gibson v Manchester City Council [1974]
• Council wrote to house that they 'may be prepared to sell his house'
to him
• to be effective, an offer must be communicated
• orally, in writing or by gesture
• New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd v AM Satterthwaite & Co Ltd (1974)
• “…[D]ifficulty exists in many situations of life, e.g., sales at
auction, supermarket purchases; boarding an omnibus;
purchasing a train ticket, tenders for the supply of goods; offers
of rewards; acceptance by post…”
• Types of offers
• Unilateral offer (e.g. lost dog poster, wanted person)
• Offer made to the world at large rather than personally
• Expected no further negotiation
• Unilateral offer is accepted through the performance of the terms of the
offer itself
• Invitation to treat (offer to make an offer)
• Offering the world to make an offer (e.g. shop window)
• Invitation to treat ≠ offer
• Statement made with an intention to enter into further negotiations
• Freeman v General Motors (1999)
• The plaintiff, who was in difficulty with repayments for a car, wrote to the
defendant company asking ‘What kind of deal can we come up with?’
• Court held this was not an offer
• Minister for Industry and Commerce v Pimm (1964)
• Held that a coat for sale on credit terms in a shop window did not constitute an
offer, but an invitation to treat
• “The advertisement was merely a statement of the cash price at which the
defendants were prepared to sell the goods, with an indication that certain
• The foundations of any agreement
• Trentham v. Archital Luxfer Ltd [1993]
• 'the coincidence of offer and acceptance will in
the vast majority of cases represent the mechanism of contract
formation.'
• Defining an offer
• A clear and unambiguous statement of the terms upon which the offeror is willing to
contract
• Offer must be definite
• Central Meats v Carney [1944]
• An offer to exchange 'as many cattle as possible' was too vague
• Gibson v Manchester City Council [1974]
• Council wrote to house that they 'may be prepared to sell his house'
to him
• to be effective, an offer must be communicated
• orally, in writing or by gesture
• New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd v AM Satterthwaite & Co Ltd (1974)
• “…[D]ifficulty exists in many situations of life, e.g., sales at
auction, supermarket purchases; boarding an omnibus;
purchasing a train ticket, tenders for the supply of goods; offers
of rewards; acceptance by post…”
• Types of offers
• Unilateral offer (e.g. lost dog poster, wanted person)
• Offer made to the world at large rather than personally
• Expected no further negotiation
• Unilateral offer is accepted through the performance of the terms of the
offer itself
• Invitation to treat (offer to make an offer)
• Offering the world to make an offer (e.g. shop window)
• Invitation to treat ≠ offer
• Statement made with an intention to enter into further negotiations
• Freeman v General Motors (1999)
• The plaintiff, who was in difficulty with repayments for a car, wrote to the
defendant company asking ‘What kind of deal can we come up with?’
• Court held this was not an offer
• Minister for Industry and Commerce v Pimm (1964)
• Held that a coat for sale on credit terms in a shop window did not constitute an
offer, but an invitation to treat
• “The advertisement was merely a statement of the cash price at which the
defendants were prepared to sell the goods, with an indication that certain
