Assignment
The legal issues rose by the case was of offers and invitations to treat. Also the communication, acceptance and or withdrawal factors must be taken into consideration.
Before discussing the case, we must define what a contract is. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties which is legally binding. A contract is any promise or set of promises made by one party to another for the breach of which the law provides a remedy. The promise or promises may be expressing (either written or oral) or may be implied from circumstances.
For the contract to be formed the following must be present within the agreement; intention to create a legal association, offer and acceptance and consideration.
The first of the above stated conditions is invitation to treat. In contract law, an invitation to treat is an action by one party which may appear to be a contractual offer but which is actually inviting others to make an offer of their own. The distinction is important because if a legitimate contractual offer is accepted by another, a binding contract is immediately formed and the terms of the original offer cannot be further negotiated without both parties consent. An invitation to treat may be seen as a request for expressions of interest. An example of this would be shop displays. Displays of goods with price tags are also usually invitations to treat. (Fisher V Bell [1961] 1 Q.B 394.) Self-service shops such as supermarkets are usually treated in the same way. (Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain V Boots Cash Chemists (Southern LTD) [1952] 2 Q.B 795.) It was held that if the display of goods were an offer then we would not be able to change our minds once an article had been selected off the shelf. There is also the reason that ...