For Milhouse to have a claim over Bart’s soul, he must show that he has a bilateral contract
with Bart by which Bart is bound. For a bilateral contract to exist, Milhouse has to show
that there is an offer, acceptance, and consideration.
Milhouse would argue that he has made an offer by indicating that he would like to buy
Bart’s immortal soul for the lowest price possible. He would also argue that Bart has
accepted the offer by agreeing to sell Milhouse said soul for $5, if he had one. This satisfies
as a counter offer, and Milhouse would argue that his sending Bart $5 by PayPal constitutes
an acceptance that formed the bilateral contract. Consideration in this contract is
Milhouse’s paying $5 for Bart’s soul.
Bart would argue that such bilateral contract does not exist. He would argue that by saying
“Dude, there is no such thing”, he has rejected the offer. The term of the offer, “the lowest
price possible”, was also not sufficiently definite. Although he said “If I had one, it would be
all yours for $5”, since he has already indicated that he does not have one, he would argue
that a reasonable person would understand that a bilateral contract could not be formed.
Also, according to the Mirror Rule, an acceptance must be the mirror image of an offer for
the offer to be accepted. In this case, Bart would argue that if there was an offer, it was
delivered by email, and therefore Milhouse’s acceptance by sending money through PayPal
does not satisfy the Mirror Rule, and a binding contract was not formed. Lastly, Bart would
argue that there is no consideration, because each party must promise to do something or
refrain from doing something. Here, although Milhouse promises to pay Bart “the lowest
price possible”, Bart claims that there is no immortal soul and therefore would have
nothing to give up. He would be unable to promise and therefore consideration is not
satisfied.
Given these facts, Milhouse would unlikely be able to establish his claim over Bart’s soul.