Question 1 (b)
Offer and the legal rules for a valid offer
6 marks
- Time to write
- About 12 minutes
- Notes
- Crux notes
Question
Question 1 (b) · 6 marksDefine offer. Under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, what legal rules govern a valid offer.
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
Read from the question
- DefineA precise definition in one or two lines.
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
- 1 Definition of offer, s. 2(a) 1½ marks 3 min
- 2 Legal rules, with illustrations 4½ marks 7 min
- Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 1 min
Easy marks
- Step 1 opens with the meaning: a one-line definition, the quickest mark in it.
Short on time? Trim steps 1 and 2 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.
Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 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.
Definition. Under section 2(a) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, a person makes a proposal (an offer) when he indicates to another that he is willing to do, or not to do, something, in order to obtain that other person's assent to the act or the abstinence.
1A birthday invitation with balloons at the gate—warm words, not a contract.
Intention to create legal relationsA social invitation does not create legal relations even if accepted.
2'Give me some oil, whichever'—the shopkeeper can only scratch his head at that.
CertaintyThe terms must be certain, definite and not vague.
3He walks the lost boy home before ever seeing the reward poster—there was nothing to accept.
CommunicationThere can be no acceptance of an offer one does not know of.
Legal rules for a valid offer:
- It must be capable of creating legal relations. A social invitation, even if accepted, creates no legal relations; a guest who travels to a birthday party cannot recover his travel expenses if the host is absent.
- Its terms must be certain, definite and not vague. An offer to sell "100 quintals of oil", with nothing to show which oil, cannot be accepted for want of certainty (unless, say, the offeror deals only in mustard oil).
- It must be communicated to the offeree. An acceptance in ignorance of the offer is no acceptance (Lalman Shukla v. Gauri Dutt: a servant who traced the missing boy before knowing of the reward could not claim it).
- Its aim must be to obtain the other party's assent.
- It may be conditional, but it must not contain a term under which failing to respond would count as acceptance.
- It may be general or specific, express or implied.
- It must be distinguished from an invitation to offer (a price list, a catalogue or an ordinary advertisement of goods for sale invites offers; a definite reward advertisement, by contrast, can be a general offer).
Where the 6 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Definition of offer, s. 2(a) | 1.5 |
| 2 | Legal rules, with illustrations | 4.5 |
| Total | 6 |
Report a problemopens an email to admin@getkunji.com with the question ID1404-Q1balready filled in.