Telaviv vs Yusuf - Article Example

Telaviv vs. Yusuf Before giving Stamatelly Telaviv the legal advice regarding negotiation with Yusuf for the purchase of his laptop, it will be appropriate to define some terms of the Law of Contract related to the case above mentioned: Offer: [Section 2(a)] “When one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to such act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal.” Acceptance: [Section 2(b)] “When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted.” Agreement: [Section 2(e)] “Every promise or every set of promises forming the consideration for each other.” Contract: [Sec 2(h)] “An agreement enforceable at law is a contract.” Sir William Anson has defined the term contract in these words: “A contract is an agreement enforceable at law made between two or more persons by which rights are acquired by one or more to acts or forbearance on the part of the other or others.” (Quoted in ReportBD.com) Consideration: [Section 2(d)] “When at the desire of the promisor, the promise or any other person has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains from doing, or promises to do or abstain from doing something, such an act or abstinence or promise is called a consideration for the promise.” The above definitions describe the essentials of a valid contract. So a legal contract contains the following: Two or more persons or parties The persons or parties must have reached the age of majority There must be some agreement The agreement must be enforceable at Law. There should be some lawful consideration. Consideration is also one of the essential elements in a contract. And it should be lawful, and should be according to the principle of morality. There are two types of agreements i.e. 1) Social agreements and 2) Legal agreements. Social agreements are the agreements which are just promises between two or more persons or parties, but do not enjoy the status of contract. For example one person invites another at his office to have dinner with him, but if he fails to host dinner, no legal remedy can be demanded, as it is social agreement in nature. Such promises do not bind the parties, to fulfil the promise, thus no legal rights between the parties are created, as in the case of Balfour and Balfour (1919) 2 KB 571: “When a husband failed to pay a promised allowance, the wife sued. The court announced the judgement in these words: "There are agreements between parties which do not result in contracts within the meaning of that term in our law. The ordinary example is where two parties agree to take a walk together (or) arrangements which are made between husband and wife. They are not contracts because the parties did not intend that they should be attended by legal consequences. Each house is a domain into which the Kings writ does not seek to run.” (Quoted in Duhaimes Canadian Contract Law Centre, p 2). On the other hand, there are some contracts, which are legal in nature, and the parties are bound to execute the promise and agreements. In case of not complying with which, legal rights and obligations are created, as in the case of Telaviv and Yusuf. In the case above described, Telaviv and Yusuf are the plaintiff and the defendant respectively. Since the offer made by Yusuf through advertisement, was mere a general offer, and not made to one specific person. An offerer is the person who makes an offer, and the offeree is the person who accepts the offer, or makes an acceptance. In the case above described, Yusuf advertised regarding the sale of his laptop against £200, which serves as invitation to offer, not the offer itself. When a person advertises that he has stock of anything or material, which he intends to sell on some specific price, it is not an offer to be bound by any contract. “Such advertisements”, Singh views, “are offers to negotiate—offers to receive offers—offers to chafers.” (2005 p 15) Telaviv shows her intention to buy a new laptop, advertised by Yusuf in the college magazine, and Telaviv makes the offer of buying the advertised laptop at £120. As an offer is viewed to be completed when it is communicated to the offeree in a prescribed mode and within suitable period of time. An offer and an acceptance to be completed must be communicated. Without communication, there is no contract between the persons, and thus no legal relations are created. In the case under study, Telaviv communicated her offer via e-mail which is an authentic and valid mode of communicating an offer. Since the price communicated by the offerer was not an appropriate one for the offeree i.e. Yusuf, he refused to accept the offer made by Telaviv through e-mail. Hence, there is no contract made between the parties, because the acceptance is not made by the offeree at all. In this case, these facts come forward: Telaviv is the offerer, Yusuf is the offeree The consideration is the old laptop, which Yusuf intends to sell, and thus seeks offers. Telaviv sent Yusuf an e-mail that to ask whether he was interested in selling his laptop to her on £120 or not, and Yusuf responded immediately that the price offered by her was not acceptable one for him. Then, Telaviv made a second offer of buying the laptop in the price advertised by Yusuf, which created a new legal situation under any provision of the Law of Contract. Yusuf did not accept the offer as yet, and announced another invitation to offer at the price of £180 to seek new offers from the purchasers. In addition, he determined the time period up to next noon to make an offer in order to purchase his laptop. Though Telaviv replied her before the next noon and insisted on purchasing the laptop against £200, Yusuf did not bother to reply even, because he had already sold the laptop. Here appear some legal points: Whether an offer was made by the offerer Whether an acceptance was made by the offeree Whether the acceptance was unconditional Whether the situation creates a legal contract between the parties Whether the plaintiff (i.e. Telaviv) can seek some legal remedy against it According to the provisions of the Law of Contract, an offer when accepted becomes a promise and every promise or every set of promise forming the consideration for each other is an agreement. [Section 2 (e)]. While discussing the case under study, it become evident that Yusuf did never make a promise to sell his laptop against any specific price in reply of two of the offers made by Telaviv, so there created no legal relationship between the two. Everyone has the right to sell his belongings to the person of his own choice and at the price of his own choice, and no provision of law can bind a person to enter into a contract with some specific person. On the other hand, law only provides remedy in case a contract is either not executed or not being executed. Hence, in the case under study, the plaintiff Stamatelly Telaviv can seek no legal remedy based on the very facts that neither any promise, nor an agreement nor a legal contract or the mode and time of payment has been made or decided between the parties above-mentioned. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anson, Sir William. Law of Contract (Retrieved in http://www.reportbd.com/articles/38/1/Contracts/Page1.html) Federal Trade Commission—Facts for Business Sachdeva & Gupta, (1999). Mercantile and Industrial Law Ajanta Prakashan Publishers, Delhi pp 28-31 Singh, Avtar (2005) Law of Contract Sixth Edition Mansoor Book Publishers Urdu Bazaar Delhi. Pp 4-11 The Lectric Law Librarys Lexicon Understanding the Magnuson-Moss  Warranty Act www pkykwong.com Read More