CONTRACT LECTURES TRANSCRIPTS
C. STRICKLAND
LECTURE 1
Track/Slide 21
2.51
Generally advertisements do not amount to offers, rather they are seen as invitations
to treat. A leading case to demonstrate this is Partridge v Crittenden 1968. Here,
again, it would be useful if you could access the case at source and then resume the
lecture. The facts of this case were that an officer of the RSPCS (the Royal Society
for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals) laid an information before Chester
Magistrates’ Court charging Anthony Ian Crittenden with unlawfully offering for sale
a non-closed ring Bramble Finch Hen in an advertisement under Classified
Advertisements. Although a criminal case, the matter was dependent on the
contractual issue of whether or not the birds had been ‘offered for sale’ in the
advertisement. When the case got to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court
by way of case stated, on this contractual point of law, it was held that the
advertisement for the birds was merely an invitation to treat, not an offer for sale. As
such, Anthony Crittenden was not guilty of an offence under section 6(1) of the
Protection of Birds Act 1954. The case contains some additional points on contract
law. First, that even if the words ‘offer for sale’ had been used in the advertisement,
that would not of itself be conclusive that the advertisement was an offer. Second, per
Lord Parker CJ, that unless the advertisement is from a manufacturer, there is
business sense in regarding advertisements as invitations to treat. Otherwise, if
advertisements were construed as offers, people responding to the advertisement
would effect an acceptance and hence there would be a contract. This would be
commercial folly as retailers could run out of stock and be bound to contracts they
could not fulfil. However, one could regard an advertisement placed by a
manufacturer as an offer (if the words were specific enough and demonstrated an
intention to be legally bound) because the implication is that a manufacturer can make
enough goods to meet demand.