Question 1

Acceptance converts an offer into a promise; when communication of offer and acceptance is complete

18.75 marks

Time to write
About 38 minutes

From an older CBCS paper

Question

Question 1 · 18.75 marks

Q.1. “What a lighted match is to a train of gunpowder, acceptance is to an offer”. Elucidate this statement.

On 20th October2020 Mahesh posts a letter of offer, which reaches Suresh on 25th October2020. On 27th October Suresh posts the letter of acceptance, which reaches Mahesh on 30th October 2020. When is the communication of a) the offer and b) the acceptance complete? State the provisions clearly.

Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.

Before you write

Read off the question and its marks

38 minfor 18.8 marks

Read from the question

  • Elucidate…When…?State…3 asks, each with its own marks below. Answer all 3.
  • ElucidateTie the answer to the quoted statement: say what it means first, and come back to it at the end.

What the paper leaves open

The paper prints no mark per question (any four of six, equal marks, 75 in all); each question is reckoned here at 18.75 marks.

Write it in this order

  1. Read; underline the asks; jot your points 2 min
  2. 1 The statement explained: acceptance makes the promise; sections 2, 5 and 7 6 marks 11 min
  3. 2 Section 4: communication of proposal, acceptance and revocation 6 marks 11 min
  4. 3 Application to the dates 6.8 marks 12 min
  5. Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min

Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.

Try it first. About 38 minutes for 18.75 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.

Solution

Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.

The statement. Anson likened acceptance to a lighted match put to a train of gunpowder: just as the match fires the powder and nothing can then recall it, acceptance turns the proposal into a promise and concludes the contract, after which neither side can withdraw. Under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, when the person to whom a proposal is made signifies his assent, the proposal is accepted and becomes a promise; every promise forming the consideration for another is an agreement, and an agreement enforceable by law is a contract (s. 2(e), (h)). To convert a proposal into a promise, the acceptance must be absolute and unqualified and expressed in some usual and reasonable manner, or in the manner the proposal prescribes (s. 7). Hence:

  1. “a proposal may be revoked at any time before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the proposer, but not afterwards”; and an acceptance may be revoked at any time before its communication is complete as against the acceptor, but not afterwards (s. 5);
  2. once the acceptance is complete against both parties, the contract is concluded, as the powder once lit cannot be unlit.

When communication is complete (s. 4):

  1. Proposal: “the communication of a proposal is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made” (s. 4).
  2. Acceptance: “complete as against the proposer when it is put in a course of transmission to him so as to be out of the power of the acceptor; as against the acceptor, when it comes to the knowledge of the proposer” (s. 4).
  3. Revocation: complete as against its maker when put in a course of transmission, and as against the other when it comes to his knowledge.

Application.

    1. The offer posted by Mahesh on 20th October2020 was communicated when it reached Suresh on 25th October 2020.
    1. The acceptance posted by Suresh on 27th October was complete as against Mahesh, the proposer, on 27th October, when the letter was posted and out of Suresh's power; and as against Suresh, the acceptor, on 30th October 2020, when it reached Mahesh.
  • So Mahesh could have revoked his offer up to the moment Suresh posted the acceptance on 27th October, and Suresh could have revoked his acceptance until it reached Mahesh on 30th October.

Conclusion. Acceptance completes the contract just as the match ignites the powder: once the acceptance is complete as against both parties, no revocation is possible.

Where the 18.75 marks sit

#ComponentMarks
1The statement explained: acceptance makes the promise; sections 2, 5 and 76
2Section 4: communication of proposal, acceptance and revocation6
3Application to the dates6.75
Total18.75
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