Q-Offers last forever.

Critically evaluate the statement

An offer is the starting point for a contract and can be made either orally or
in writing. If a statement made by one party is regarded as negotiations,
before a legal offer is made (known as an invitation to treat), then there will
be no legally binding offer of a contract. The offer must be communicated
to the other party. Unless a person knows about an offer, it cannot be acted
upon. Once it is known to exist, the essential point is to establish how long
the offer lasts, as it can only be accepted whilst the offer remains open.
Once the offer has ended it cannot be accepted and so it cannot be the
basis of a contract. A new offer would then have to be made to start the
process of forming a contract. The contract is formed when an offer has
been accepted. An invitation to treat is merely an indication of a willingness
to enter negotiations. In a lot of situations, it is the buyer of the
product/service not the seller that makes the offer. But an offer is a
statement that a person is willing to enter into a legal contract. Both an offer
and invitation to treat can be made either verbally or in writing. However,
cases have distinguished between situations that are an offer and those
that are an invitation to treat and are mainly common sense. One reason
contract law has situations classed, as an invitation to treat is that there are
many different goods and services that are traded which have many
different methods of forming a legal contract. For example, to buy a house
you cannot make a contract simply through an oral agreement. A written
document must be signed by both parties and witnessed by an
independent person, such as a solicitor. Specific reasons for the sale of a
product only being classed as an Invitation to treat: Limited stock of the
item The item may have legal restrictions on its sale The seller may wish to
choose who purchases the product The seller may wish to negotiate the
price, e.g. on ebay or newspaper advert The seller may wish to decide on
whether or not he sells the product at all Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co:
Mrs Carlill claimed the reward offered by the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. for
anyone who used its smoke ball (a sort of medicinal vaporiser or inhaler)
but caught influenza. The company refused to pay stating that the so-called
offer of £100 was a mere marketing ‘puff’ and not intended to have any
basis for a contract. Mrs Carlill argued that it was an offer, which she had
accepted by buying and using the smoke ball in accordance with the
instructions. Held An advertisement could contain an offer if it was clearly
meant to be taken seriously and was not just an advertising gimmick. The
court also said that an offer could be made to the whole world, and that
anyone hearing the offer could accept it: it just had to have been
communicated to the individual claiming to have accepted it Mrs Carlill
therefore won her case because exceptionally the advert was clear enough
to be an offer to anyone reading it, purchasing the product and following
the instructions precisely. This is an example of a Unilateral Contract,
which is where one party makes a communication to any other parties that
may read the advert and is therefore regarded as an offer to the whole
world. An offer can come to an end in one of six ways
Lapse of time: Some offers are made for a fixed period of time, such as
seven days or one month. At the end of that period, the offer lapses and
comes to an end. Most offers do not have any fixed time limit and so will
come to an end after a reasonable time. What is reasonable will depend on
all the circumstances. In Ramsgate hotel v Montefior . Revocation: A
person who makes an offer can revoke (withdraw) his offer at any time
before it has been accepted. For this to happen, the person to whom the
offer was made must receive notification of the withdrawal, at which point
he can no longer accept the offer. A withdrawal of an offer can even occur
during any period when the offer is said to be open. Revocation can be
implied by another’s actions. Once an offer for an object is accepted, it
cannot be accepted again. However, where the offer has been made to
more than one person, there are potential difficulties, as there could be two
contracts with respect to one object. The Situation where one person wants
an offer to remain open for a period of time is quite common as the time
period is to be used for getting financial and other plans drawn up. So as to
make sure that the offer will remain open, a separate contract has to be
made. This is usually a contract to keep the offer open for an agreed fixed
period in exchange for an agreed sum of money. This is known as ‘buying
an option'. Rejection: Once an offer is rejected, it cannot be accepted and
the offer comes to an end. The person to whom the offer is made does not
have a second chance to accept the offer. If he attempts to accept the offer
he is in fact making a fresh offer that the person who originally made the
offer can accept or reject. The rejection must be a clear rejection and not
just a request for more information. Counter-offer: A counter-offer both
rejects the original offer and creates a new offer that can then be accepted
or rejected. This commonly takes place during negotiations. Death: In
English law contracts can be enforced against a dead person’s estate, if
necessary by suing the deceased's executors or administrators. However,
an offer made by a person who dies before the offer ends cannot be
accepted if the person to whom the offer is made knows of his death. If he
does not know of the death, then the offer can still be accepted. This is
logical as it could otherwise provide hardship for the family of a business
owner who died, as contracts in the course of negotiation would have to be
restarted. finally, a change in the law which makes a potential contract
illegal will terminate an offer, since courts will not enforce an illegal
contract. In conclusion, offer can be terminated by Revocation, Rejection,
Lapse of time, Conditional Offer, Operation of law, Death, Acceptance and
Illegality.
More over the court also stated that If an offery Is unware of the offer he
can not claim to have accepted it