Natashah K Mapingere

23900329

LS110 Law of contract

Term C 2023
Assignment 3
5 December 2023

Tinashe's legal relations with Sepiso, Natina, and Mwansa can be analyzed in terms
of contract law.

Tinashe with Sepiso

Starting with Sepiso, Tinashe may have a binding contract with her. A contract is
formed when there is an offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create
legal relations (Stone, 2009). In this case, Tinashe made an offer by placing the
Picasso drawing in the window with a sign stating the price and contact details which
included a postal address and a telephone number . Sepiso's act of writing a letter to
Tinashe agreeing to buy the drawing for the stated price of K50,000 is a way of
acceptance. Furthermore, Sepiso posted the letter at 11:30 a.m during working hours
hence a contract was made. According to Elliott, & Quinn (2009), the postal rule
stipulates that once a letter of acceptance has been sent a contract is made.The
consideration for the contract is the price of K50,000. Furthermore, the intention to
create legal relations can be inferred from the fact that Tinashe is a professional
antique dealer and it is reasonable to assume that he intended for his offers to be
legally binding. Therefore, Tinashe and Sepiso may have a valid contract for the sale
of the Picasso drawing.

Tinashe with Natina

Moving on to Natina, their situation is complex. When Natina visited Tinashe's shop
and offered K40,000 for the Picasso drawing, Tinashe made a counter-offer by
stating that he would accept K40,500. Natina then left the shop without accepting or
rejecting Tinashe's counter-offer. In this case, there was no final acceptance of an
offer, and therefore no contract was formed at that time. However, when Natina
wrote to Tinashe agreeing to buy the drawing for K40,500 and posted the letter at
12:30 p.m, this can be seen as a valid acceptance of Tinashe's counter-offer.
Therefore, Tinashe and Natina may have a binding contract for the sale of the
Picasso drawing at the price of K40,500.

Tinashe with Mwansa

Finally, with Mwansa, Tinashe agreed to sell the Picasso drawing at the price of
K40,000. This agreement was made just before closing time at 5 p.m. However,
Mwansa promised to return the following Monday with the money. At this point, there
was an agreement between Tinashe and Mwansa for the sale of the drawing at the
price of K40,000 but it was not binding. It is important to note that Mwansa had not
yet paid for or collected the drawing at the time when Tinashe received the letters
from Sepiso and Natina on Monday morning.
Natashah K Mapingere
23900329

LS110 Law of contract

Term C 2023
Assignment 3
5 December 2023

Legal Relations
In terms of legal relations, Tinashe may be in a difficult position as he has potentially
entered into contracts with both Sepiso and Natina for the sale of the same Picasso
drawing. It is important to consider the timing of events and whether any of the
contracts may have been breached.

As claimed by Eliiot, &Quinn (2009), when multiple parties claim rights to the same
item or service, it is important to consider principles such as priority of acceptance
and breach of contract. In this case, it seems that Sepiso was the first to accept
Tinashe's offer focusing in the time the acceptance was sent which was on Saturday
11:30 a.m. Therefore, she may have priority in terms of her claim to the Picasso
drawing. On the other hand, Natina's acceptance of Tinashe's counter-offer was
posted at 12:30 p.m on Saturday, which is after Sepiso's acceptance. Therefore, it
could be argued that when she accepted the offer, the offer no longer existed
resulting in no contract being made.

As for Mwansa, while she had an agreement with Tinashe for the sale of the drawing
at a lower price, she had not yet paid for or collected the drawing at the time when
Tinashe received the letters of Sepiso and Natina. Therefore she has a weaker claim
on the Picasso drawing.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Tinashe should seek legal advice to determine how to proceed in this
complex situation. It is possible that he may need to honor his contract with Sepiso
or Natina and compensate the other party for any losses incurred especially with
Mwansa. Ultimately, legal principles such as offer, acceptance, consideration,
intention to create legal relations, priority of acceptance, and breach of contract will
be important in determining Tinashe's legal relations with Sepiso, Natina, and
Mwansa in this situation.

Reference List

R. Stone. (2009). The Modern Law of Contract (8th ed). London: Routledge Publishing.
Elliot, &, Quinn.(2009). Contract Law (7th ed). Pearson Longman:London.