LawIn4: Agreement (Contracts)

Hi, you're listening to the Australian Law Student Law in Four podcast. Your go to podcast for legal insights in 4 minutes or less. I'm Nick Hodgkinson and today we're starting our fantastic foray into contract law with a discussion on agreement. But first, our obligatory disclaimer. The Law in Four is produced by law students. For law students, it is not, nor is it intended to constitute legal advice. If you require legal assistance, you should contact your local Law Society, who can direct you appropriately. For more information on the Australian law student, visit our website at the ozlawstudent.com OK, let's kick things off with offers. An offer, as distinguished from an invitation to treat, signifies A willingness to enter into a bargain with the intention to be bound without further negotiation on the terms. You might like to consider how the Court applied offer and acceptance analysis differently in the cases of shop sales with Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and ticket cases with Mcrobertson, Miller Airline Services. In determining whether an offer exists, the reasonable person's standard comes into play, as seen in Carlisle and Carbolic Smokeball Company. If a reasonable person would understand the language of the offer to be sufficiently clear, sincere, and promissory, then an offer is likely to be present. What about rescinding offers? Well, offers incompletely accepted can be revoked without penalty, as observed in Mobil Oil Australia and Welcome International. However, if there is an ancillary contract not to revoke, then the unaccepted contract may remain unenforceable when a counter offer comes into play. The conflict approach implies that a counter offer rejects or terminates the original offer. In Butler Machine Tool Company and XLO Corp, it's shown that acceptance occurs when the offeree signs and returns the counter offer, indicating their agreement. If we shift gears now to acceptance, acceptance is defined as an act by the offeree that indicates their unequivocal and final assent to the offer. Silence upon receipt isn't sufficient to form a contract. As demonstrated in Felt, House and Bindley Manifesto, descent is required for offer and acceptance. Acceptance can also take place via conduct where the offeree knows the detailed terms, benefits from the offer, and has a reasonable opportunity to project the terms. As seen in Imperial Holdings and Mark and Paul Partners, acceptance by post or electronic communication varies, with postal acceptance occurring upon posting. Where the postal method is contemplated by the parties, as in Hentthorne and Fraser, NSW, electronic communications are governed by the Electronic Transactions Act 2000. When offer and acceptance are unclear, we apply the ACID test per brambles Holdings in Bathurst City Council. Mutual assent may be inferred if a reasonable person in each party's position sees a concluded bargain despite the moment of formation being indeterminable. OK, and with that, we've unpacked the intricate dance of offer and acceptance. Understanding these nuances is key to navigating the legal landscape of contract law. Join us next time for more legal insights on the Australian Law, Student Law and Four Podcast. As always, if you have any suggestions, please e-mail us at team@theozlawstudent.com or leave a comment in your review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.