Contracts In The Case Of R V Clarke (1927)

Contracts refers to agreements that are made between two or more people or entities in which a promise of a return in something is considered and according to “it can sometime be concerned with the enforcement of a promisee or set or promises.” The making of an offer is the first and the main step in the traditional process of forming a valid contract: an offer, an acceptance of the offer, and an exchange of consideration. In this paper, we were given a case scenario that relates to the case law and elements of legislation to determine whether there are an existing contract made between Peter and John. In this case, these conditions were not followed and there was no existing contract between the two party and this was represented by Peter

However, as seen in the case of R v Clarke (1927) where Clarke, oblivious of the reward for this performance, made statements to the police that led to the conviction of two murderers; because his motive was to prove his innocence and not in exchange for the offer, he could not claim the reward. As such, if the offeree accepts the offer through performance, whilst in ignorance the offer, it will not be valid. Similarly, unbeknown to Peter that John had sent his counter offer the day before, Peter sent a fax detailing that his “cement price of $100 per bag includes delivery charges”. Even though, Peters fax is identical to Johns offer, it doesn’t constitute acceptance as he was unaware of the counter-offer; in turn, this fax is a new offer and not acceptance. Offers are dissolved when an outright rejection has taken place. John did not understand the cost of delivery charging; thus the acceptance was made unaware of the offer which means that a contract in current was invalid. Having received Peter’s new offer, john immediately replied by fax, stating “Decline your offer of cement at $100 per bag including delivery charges…” This revoked the offer made by