Page from a book with text about contract law and an offer, incl…

174 Part2 The Fundamentals www.pearsoned. ./yates Oertentative promise mscssmwauasncms , a a Courts-Imakethe jdecis _,_ris Based le ewdence presented to'them; What, _, ' f{evide Ce will, acqmpqnsida incases in Which'ithe eXistence of a :; ct is atiiss' e? In Iight thhis,what can-parties inVolved in contractual, neg ti] inns-deftofensiir _"hata court'yvillreachfthecorrectfdecisionjastoi * -; tthremamgbfithemidsbfthpai * ~ * - Obviously, mistakes happen, and some very complex rules, which we will dis- cuss later, have been developed to handle them. Nevertheless, contract law is based on the assumption that the culmination of the bargaining process occurs when one party states its position in the form of an offer in the expectation that the other party, through acceptance, will make a similar commitment to be bound by the terms of that offer. It should be stressed that a valid offer and an acceptance are not always obvious and yet, from the conduct of the parties or other factors, it is clear that the parties have a mutual understanding. In such cir cumstances, the courts are willing to imply the existence of a contract, and no e ' dence of a specic identiable offer and acceptance is required. Offer A valid offer contains all of the terms to be included in the contract; all that ' required of the other party is to give its consent or denial. The offer is a tentati (MW- When a sales person offe to sell a car to a customer for $5000, the offer is a tentative promise by the sell to deliver the car, contingent on the customers willingness to pay the $5000. process of making an offer is the communication of a willingness to be bound the terms and conditions stated in that offer. This aspect of the offer can be confusing to those involved in commerci activities. People often have documents placed before them and are asked ' sign the contract (for example, in transactions involving insurance policies 0 leases). In fact, at that stage, the document is not a contract; it is merely an offe 7 Only after it is accepted and signed can it be said to be the contract, and eve - - - 1 1 1 ,,,1__ t1- mum mrlcmnp nF thp rnnrrartnal relationshi