ACCEPTANCE

Acceptance
• Sec 2(b) When the person to whom the
proposal is made signifies his assent thereto,
the proposal is said to be accepted. A
proposal, when accepted, becomes a promise;
 Acceptance must be absolute
• Sec 7 In order to convert a proposal into a
promise the acceptance must-
• (1) be absolute and unqualified:
• The offer and acceptance of an offer must be
absolute without giving any room of doubt
 MANNER
• Section 7(2) in The Indian Contract Act, 1872
• be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner,
unless the proposal prescribes the manner in which it
is to be accepted.
• If the proposal prescribes a manner in which it is to be
accepted, and the acceptance is not made in such
manner, the proposer may, within a reasonable time
after the acceptance is communicated to him, insist
that his proposal shall be accepted in the prescribed
manner, and not otherwise;
• But, if he fails to do so, he accepts the acceptance.
• If the proposer does not • The offer must be
prescribe the manner in accepted in usual and
which it is to be some reasonable
accepted . manner.

• If the proposal • The offer must be

prescribes the manner accepted in the
in which it is to be prescribed manner.
accepted .
 CONSEQUENCE OF NOT ACCEPTING
OFFER IN THE PRESCRIBED MANNER
• If the offer is not accepted in the prescribed
manner, the offeror may approve or reject
such acceptance.
• If he wants to reject he must inform the
offeree within a reasonable time as he is not
bound by the acceptance , since it is not in the
prescribed manner.
• If he does not reject within a reasonable time
then such offer results in contract.
 Kilburn engineering co Ltd vs. ONGC
AIR 2000 bom 405
• The offer and acceptance have three “C s”.
• 1) Certainty
• 2) Commitment
• 3) Communication
• If any one of the C is missing in either offer or
acceptance , there can not be a valid contract.
 Haridwar Singh v. Begum Sumbrui
AIR 1972 SC 1942
• When the acceptor puts a new condition
while accepting , the contract already signed
by the proposer is not complete until the
proposer accepted the condition.
Rakesh Kumar Dinesh Kumar v. U.G.Hotels
and Resorts ltd AIR 2006 hp 135
• The acceptance of a promise can be express
terms or implied terms. Conduct of the parties
showed that plaintiff have impliedly accepted
offer and received the part of the amount.
Dickinson v. Dodds 1876 Ch.D. 463
• The person to whom, the offer has been
made, can not , by acceptance make a binding
contract after he knows that the person who
has made the offer has sold the propery to
some one else.
 communication
• Acceptance is complete when it is communicated to
the offerer.
• Mental acceptance is not an acceptance
• (BROGDEN V.METROPOLITAN RAILWAY COMPANY)
• The manager of the company accepted the offer and
kept inside the table drawer and forget about it, it is
not an acceptance.
• If the acceptance is by post it is complete as soon as
the letter is posted.
• By whom the acceptance to be communicated?
The offeree or the person authorised by the
offeree. So unauthorised person cannot accept.
POWELL V. LEE
P applied for the post of headmaster.
The management decided to appoint P as HM
It was not communicated to P. One of the member
informally told P about the decision. Later Q was
appointed.
P sued and court held the suit is not maintainable.
• Acceptance must be communicated to the offerer
himself. Otherwords if the acceptance is given to
unauthorised person it will not give rise to contract.
• FELTHOUSE V. BINDLEY
• F offered by a letter to buy his nephews horse for $30
saying if I hear no more about him , I shall consider the
horse mine.
• The nephew sent no reply at all but told B his
auctioneer, not to sell that particular horse as he
intended to sell that horse to F. B sold the horse by
mistake. It was held that F will not succeed because his
nephew had not communicated acceptance to him.
 Time limit
• The acceptance must be given within the time
prescribed if any or within a reasonable time if no
time is prescribed.

• RAMSGATE VICTORIA HOTEL CO V. MONTEFIORE-

An offer to buy shares of a company was made in
June but the acceptance was communicated in
November ,it was held that the offerer was not
bound by the acceptance because the acceptance
was not given within a reasonable time.
•