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Extract from the F4 Eng BPP text (June 2015)
“The question arises as to whether contractual obligations arise if a party, in ignorance of an offer performs an act which fulfils the terms of the offer. If A offers a reward to anyone who finds and returns their lost property and B, in ignorance of the offer, does in fact return it, is B entitled to the promised reward? There is agreement by conduct, but B is not accepting A’s offer since they are unaware of it.”
It further gives an example of a case where the decision was “There could not be acceptance without knowledge of the offer”.
My question is, why is acceptance impossible without knowledge of the offer when the person has met all the criteria in the offer by conduct? A offered a reward to ANYONE who finds and returns their lost property, why would someone be unentitled to the promised reward because they did not know of it?
Let me ask you what is meant by the word “acceptance” What is it that is being accepted?
Tell me that and I’ll get back to you shortly after your response
Acceptance may be defined as ‘A positive act by a person to whom an offer has been made which, if unconditional, brings a binding contract into effect.’
In this case acceptance would be of A’s offer (finding and returning lost property in return for a reward).
No – that cannot be right!
Ask yourself this “Can I accept an offer that I don’t know about?”
It’s not possible! The act of acceptance is the second element in the formation of a contract. The first element, the offer, has to exist in the mind of the person returning the lost property. Otherwise, the act of returning is simply that – it’s an act of returning something to someone who has lost that something
You can only accept an offer and, if you are not aware that there IS an offer, how can you claim to be accepting some offer of which you are ignorant
I hope that that has cleared up your thinking a little bit!
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