Contract Law · §6.1
Letter
How a bare proposal hardens into a binding promise — the moment agreement is reached, and the moment it is not.
Dear reader,
A contract is a promise the law will enforce. It is built when a valid offer is met by an unqualified acceptance, supported by consideration and an intention to create legal relations. This letter concerns the first two — the meeting of the minds — and the exact instant at which two wills become one.
Definition 6.1.1 — A contract
O ∧ A ∧ C ∧ I
Offer and Acceptance make the agreement; Consideration and Intention make it enforceable.
The formation sequence
Offer + acceptance is agreement; agreement made enforceable is a contract.
I · What an offer is
An offer is willingness to contract on definite terms, binding the instant it is accepted. The objective test asks how a reasonable person would read the words — not what the maker privately meant. A priced display or advert is only an invitation to treat: it invites the other side to make the offer. (Pharmaceutical Society v Boots.)
II · A valid acceptance
A ≡ O vs. A ≠ O
Mirror the offer → acceptance. Vary a term → a counter-offer that destroys it. (Hyde v Wrench.)
II · Communicated assent
Acceptance generally takes effect only when it is communicated to the offeror — a decision kept in the mind binds no one. From this follows a firm limit: an offeror cannot force the other party's silence into assent. (Felthouse v Bindley.)
III · The postal rule
tform = tpost
Acceptance bites at posting; a revocation only on receipt — so a posted acceptance can beat a revocation in the mail.
Agreement, assembled
Two wills, one moment — and a promise the law will keep.
§6.1 — the headline rule
Agreement is struck the instant a mirror-image acceptance is communicated — the meeting of the minds, made enforceable.
Yours in good faith, — the Contract Law reader