Law Beat - Quiz #5

Learning the Law Series - Part 5

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

After again having problems buying one half of Jill's house, Jack decided to try his luck again. This time he decided to enlist the help of Jill's boyfriend, Socrates. Jack approached Socrates and asked whether Socrates would try to get Jill to offer Socrates one half of Jill's house. The plan went accordingly to plan.

Socrates and his friend Aristotle were having dinner with Jill one night. Socrates mentioned that he would love to move in with Jill and in fact wanted to buy one half of Jill's interest in the house. Jill was a trusting soul. She thought about the idea and told Socrates that she would have her lawyer prepare an offer in the morning and send it over to him for acceptance. The next morning Jill's lawyer, Marc Antony, prepared the offer and sent it to Socrates. Aristotle and Jack were there when the offer arrived by courier.

The offer had been signed by Jill but did not indicate the name of the buyer. As such, Jack filled in his name and sent back the offer to Marc Antony. When Jill saw that Jack had completed the offer, she was livid and refused to sell to Jack. She renounced being Jack's brother and decided to change her last name so that there would not be any family connection between the two.

Now you be the judge:

Will Jack be able to force Jill to sell one half interest in the house to him?
(a) Yes, because it was Jill's fault for leaving the name of the buyer left blank when she sent the offer.
(b) Yes, because Socrates was the agent for Jack and therefore entitled to get Jill to make an offer.
(c) No, because Jill only intended the offer to be made to Socrates and it was integral to the contract that only Socrates be the buyer.
(d) No, because the name of the buyer was left blank when Jill signed it and therefore cannot be a binding contract.
Would it make a difference if Socrates signed the offer and later indicated that it was on Jack's behalf? Could Jack then force Jill to sell one half of the house to him?
(a) Yes, since Socrates accepted and he was the person to whom Jill intended to make the offer.
(b) No, because Socrates would then only be signing as agent for Jack and Jill never intended to make the offer to Jack irrespective of who actually signs the offer.
(c) No, since Socrates was never authorized by Jack to sign the offer on Jack's behalf.
(d) No, since it would be an illegal contract given that Socrates and Jack had conspired to trick Jill.
Would Jack be successful if the lawyer had accidentally inserted Jack's name in the offer and not Socrates?
(a) Jack could now enforce the contract because his name was in the offer.
(b) Jack could not enforce the contract because the offer was delivered to Socrates and not Jack.
(c) Jack could now enforce the contract because he had the money and he was ready, willing and able to close the deal.
(d) Jack could not enforce the contract because he knew his name in the offer was a mistake and therefore not open for him to accept.
What if Socrates signed the offer but never redelivered it to Jill but merely told her by phone that he had accepted. Would the acceptance be valid?
(a) Yes, because he did communicate his acceptance to Jill.
(b) Yes, because he was the only person who could accept.
(c) Yes, because he had signed the offer and communicated this fact to Jill by phone.
(d) No, because a written offer presumes that it can only be accepted in the same manner, that is, by written response. The fact that he called is not enough. He must redeliver the accepted offer.

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.