LW106 Business Law
Assignment Bob v FreshCo 2010
Requirements for a valid acceptance
Clear and unambiguous agreement to offer and acceptance can only be agreed by the offeree
only. Acceptance may be oral, written or implied from conduct. Acceptance must be clear
and unqualified and must be exactly match the offer. Neale v Merrett (1930). The defendant
made an offer to sell land to the plaintiff for £280. The plaintiff replied accepting the offer,
enclosing £80 and promising to pay the balance in four monthly instalments. It was held that
the proposal for deferred payment was a variation of the terms implicit in the offer. Since the
normal term of a contract for the sale of land are that the entire price is payable as a single
sum at completion, it was held that there had been no acceptance.
The general rule in communication of acceptance is; Acceptance must be communicated to
and received by the offeror, or by someone with their authority, to the offeror.
Kennedy v London Express Newspapers (1931) the publishers of an English newspaper
offered a free insurance scheme to its registered readers. The plaintiff’s wife had registered
with the newsagents and on her being killed accidentally by a bus, her husband claimed the
sum payable under the insurance scheme. It was held that the offer of the free insurance
scheme represented a unilateral offer made to the world at large. Registration by the
plaintiff’s wife brought a valid contract into existence, and the publishers were legally bound
by it.
In this case Bob v FreshCo (2010) the offer was made to the world at large but was meant as
“light-hearted fun”. Bob wanted to “purchase” Jenny and made the offer to FreshCo but they
communicated that they had no intention of “selling” Jenny. A reasonable man would have
understood that Jenny could not be “purchased”. The requirements for valid acceptance had
not been met therefore a contract did not exist. Even if Bob had made a valid offer there was
one requirement that he had not fulfilled, he was not a FreshCoPoints cardholder therefore he
was eligible to apply for the offer. There are certain elements of the offer and acceptance
which may be valid but, in this case, are not fulfilled and therefore a contract would not exist.