advert question - Help urgently needed :)

hi guys, i'm struggling with some parts of my esaay question. does anyone one the right answer to this: "guy puts an advert in the local newspaper offering money to anyone who will come and cut his grass". is it an offer or rather an invitation t.t.? i'm aware of Lefkowitz and Partridge, but still have some doubts...

Reply 1

Lauren18

I'm too busy to go into much detail but I think you need to think of this example as a unilateral offer - look at Carlill v The Carbolic Smoke Ball Co Ltd (1893).

It's hard to say from your vague wording, but if the guy is OFFERING money to anyone who will cut his grass, then he is making an offer to the world at large which is acceptable by effective performance of its terms - i.e. cutting the grass.

It's a while since I did offer & acceptance - but you could consider the following cases and say why this example does/does not fit with each:

Partridge v Crittenden (1668) High Court - court held that the defendant was not guilty of offering a protected species for sale as his local newspaper advertisement was a mere invitation to treat - makes commercial sense. If the court had held the advert to be an offer, an infinite number of parties could try and purchase the cocks and hens.

Carlill v The Carbolic Smoke Ball Co Ltd (1893) - the court held that the Company was liable for the payment of £100 as Mrs Carlill had performed all terms of the unilateral offer and no communication of acceptance was needed. This case also established that offers can be made 'to the world at large'.

You could mention Felthouse v Bindley (1862) and show that whilst offers cannot be accepted by silence, Carlill shows that UNILATERAL offers can be made and are acceptable by performing the terms - even though the offeror may have no knowledge of it.

Note: If the man in the example had put an advert in the newspaper saying "Wanted: a keen gardener who may is able to cut my grass once a month - please phone xxx if interested" - this would be an ITT along the lines of Partridge.

Sorry I don't have more time to help - but it is a simple question, just needs a bit of analysis. x x

Reply 2

dila04

the problem with this question is that we don't have a lot of facts given - I simply quoted my essay question, so it sems that I should consider few possibilities regarding the contents of man's ad. Thanx for the ideas!

Reply 3

Vitriol01

Prepare an answer that covers both scenarios - i.e.

1. A unilateral offer.

2. An invitation to treat.

Then follow those paths to their conclusion and mention cases etc. That's how you should be structuring contract answers IMO. I reckon that's what they're looking for if they haven't given too many details in the question...

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