Law Beat

Offer and Acceptance - A look at Acceptance of an Offer.

In the last part, I looked at few last points of offers. In this part I want to canvass the topic of when it is impossible to accept an offer.

To accept an offer, the person accepting must signify his or her willingness to enter into a contract with the person making the offer on the terms offered to him or her. But there are certain times when acceptance is impossible:

1. An acceptance is ineffective when the offer has been revoked. In the situation where the person who made the offer has taken back his or her offer, the offer is no longer open for acceptance. Any acceptance is simply too late.

2. An acceptance is not valid where the person accepting the offer knows that the offer contains a mistake. The mistake can relate to the terms of the offer, the identity of the person to whom the offer was made or the existence of a contract. If the mistake is vital to the offer, then any acceptance of the offer is not valid. For example if Jane makes an offer intended for Jack when in fact it was made to Bill, then Bill's acceptance will not be valid if Jane only wanted to make the offer to Jack.

3. Where the acceptance is made long after the offer in situations where it would be unreasonable for the person making the offer to wait, then the acceptance will not be effective. This can happen in situations where goods offered for sale are perishable. It would not be reasonable to expect the offer to be open for acceptance for a long time due to the nature of the goods.

4. Finally, acceptance is not effective where the acceptance is made by an agent of the person to whom the offer was made unless the agent was authorized to accept or the person to whom the offer was made later confirms the agent's acceptance. For example, assume Janet makes an offer to Jack, and Jack's friend, Peter, accepts the offer on Jack's behalf. Peter's acceptance is not valid unless Jack gave Peter the authority to accept the offer and Janet knew of Peter's authority or Jack later tells Janet that Peter's acceptance was meant to be a valid acceptance on Jack's behalf.

Well if you are ready, let us see what happens to our friends Jack and Jill today. To the quiz. Don't forget to read the previous parts in the series since the questions build on what you previously learned.

The principles of law presented in these articles are based on Canadian law. However, the information provided by the Fraud Bureau in this Law Beat series is not legal advice nor conveyed in the course of an solicitor/attorney-client relationship, but is intended merely as general information related to common legal issues. Your access to this article is subject to the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. You are not to rely upon this article for the basis of any decision you wish to make. If you have specific legal problem or question, please contract your legal advisor for specific legal advice relating to your question or problem.