Question 1 OR (b)

Advertised payment to users of a weight-loss tablet: a general offer

6 marks

Time to write
About 12 minutes
Topic
Contract: nature, kinds, offer and acceptance
Notes
Crux notes

Question

Question 1 OR (b) · 6 marks

The following advertisement was issued in a newspaper by a weight management company: "Anyone who uses the tablet of their company in accordance with the conditions prescribed shall lose 12 kgs. weight in a month. The company shall pay a sum of 4 Lakhs to any person who fails to lose weight as stated above." The tablet was bought by 40 persons and used by them according to the prescribed conditions, and each of them finds it absolutely ineffective.

Discuss whether those persons can claim the promised reward from the company.

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

12 minfor 6 marks

Read from the question

  • DiscussTie 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 OR alternative of this paper is lettered (c) and (d), not (a) and (b), and the paper prints the OR marker as "(OR)"; the printed letters are kept. The advertisement, though issued by the company itself, speaks of "the tablet of their company"; the phrase is kept as printed, and the answer reads it as the advertising company's own tablet.

Write it in this order

  1. Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
  2. 1 General offer; acceptance by performing its conditions (s. 8); knowledge of the offer 2 marks 3 min
  3. 2 Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. 1 mark 2 min
  4. 3 Application to the 40 users 2 marks 3 min
  5. 4 Conclusion with the amount claimable 1 mark 2 min
  6. Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 1 min

Short on time? Trim steps 1 and 3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks. End with step 4 in a line or two.

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.

Issue. Is the company's newspaper advertisement an offer that the 40 users accepted, so that each can enforce the promised payment of ₹4 lakh?

Law.

  • General offer. An offer may be made to the public at large; anyone can then accept it by doing what it asks. It is a continuing offer: until it is withdrawn, anyone may accept it at any time, provided each of them knows of the offer.
  • Acceptance by performance. Section 8 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 states that “Performance of the conditions of a proposal” is an acceptance of it. Where an offer promises something in return for an act and does not ask to be told of the performance, doing the act is acceptance even though nothing is communicated to the offeror.
  • A definite promise. To be capable of acceptance, the offer must contain a definite promise by the offeror to be bound if its terms are met.
  • Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. (1893). The company advertised a reward of £100 for anyone who caught influenza after using its smoke ball according to the printed directions. Mrs. Carlill used it as directed, still caught influenza, and was held entitled to the reward, because using the smoke ball was her acceptance of the offer.

Application.

  1. The advertisement is addressed to the public through a newspaper and promises a fixed sum, ₹4 lakh, on a stated condition: using the tablet as prescribed and failing to lose 12 kg within a month. That is a definite promise to be bound, so the advertisement is a general offer capable of acceptance.
  2. Each of the 40 persons bought the tablet and used it according to the prescribed conditions. Taking it, as the facts indicate, that they did so on the strength of the advertisement and so knew of the offer, each accepted it by performing its conditions; none needed to tell the company in advance, since the advertisement did not ask for notice. If any one of them had bought and used the tablet without knowing of the advertisement, he would have no claim, since a general offer is accepted only by a person who knows of it.
  3. The tablet proved wholly ineffective for every one of them, so none lost the promised weight in the month, and the condition on which the company promised to pay has occurred for each of them.
  4. Because a general offer is open to anyone until withdrawn, every user who performed its conditions accepted it, and the company's promise binds it to each of them. The advertisement, as the paper note records, is read as relating to the company's own tablet.

Conclusion. The case is on all fours with Carlill's case. Each of the 40 persons can recover ₹4 lakh from the company, a total liability of 40 × ₹4,00,000 = ₹1,60,00,000 (₹1.6 crore).

Where the 6 marks sit

#ComponentMarks
1General offer; acceptance by performing its conditions (s. 8); knowledge of the offer2
2Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.1
3Application to the 40 users2
4Conclusion with the amount claimable1
Total6
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