Offer and Acceptance

A proposal is a willingness to be bound

In the classroom, an offer, also called a proposal, is a statement of willingness to do or not do something, made so that the other person can accept and create a bargain. Acceptance is the assent to that proposal. The whole subject sits inside . Whether the agreement is a contract still depends on , including consent, capacity, and a lawful object. If performance later fails, that is , which you do not reach until formation is done. Open the Indian Contract Act. This page will not replace it with a mnemonic.

Invitation to treat is the usual trap

A price tag, a menu, a catalogue, and an advertisement are classic places where students see an offer too early. The textbook contrast is an invitation to treat: a signal that invites the other person to make the offer. On that picture, the customer offers by tendering the price, and the seller accepts at the counter. Use the contrast as a tool, then check the Act and the facts. A signed document that already says “we agree” is not a price tag. Read what was communicated, to whom, and whether it was revoked before acceptance. Communication and revocation are in the Act. Look them up. Do not invent the section from a senior’s number.

How to mark a formation problem

Write who spoke first, what the words committed them to, and who assented. Say whether the display was only an invitation. Say whether acceptance matched the proposal or tried to change it. A change is a new proposal in the usual teaching, not an acceptance. Do not award damages in the same breath. Damages assume a contract and a breach. If formation fails, stop.

A hypothetical about a book on a shelf

Hypothetical. A card on a book reads ₹400. Meera takes it to the cashier, who says the copy is reserved. A student writes that the shop breached a contract the moment the card was printed. The rewrite says the card, on the invitation-to-treat idea, invited Meera’s offer, and the cashier has not accepted. No contract is declared. No section number is guessed. Meera may be annoyed. Annoyance is not acceptance.

A checklist for formation

Sort the statements. 1. Find the proposal. 2. Ask whether it was only an invitation. 3. Find a matching acceptance. 4. Ask whether it was communicated in time. 5. Only then move to the other essentials. 6. Do not discuss breach if there is no contract. 7. Open the Act before you cite a number.

Kanoons Academy does not currently list a separate LAWCET, CLAT, or AP LAWCET batch in the catalogue; these notes are study material, and counselling is via . The nearest catalogue course is . That course teaches how to read an Act, a rule, and a judgment note. It is not an entrance-test batch, and the button on this page uses the course’s own name.