Acceptance in United Kingdom

Definition of Acceptance

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Acceptance :

Agreement to the terms of an *offer that, provided certain other requirements are fulfilled. converts the offer into a legally binding contract. If the method by which acceptance is to be signified is indicated by the offeror, that method alone will be effective. If it is not, acceptance may be either express (by word of mouth or in writing) or inferred from the offeree’s conduct; for example, if he receives goods on approval and starts to make use of them. The acceptance must always, however, involve some action on the part of the person to whom the offer was made: the offeror cannot assert that his offer will be treated as accepted unless the offeree rejects it. The validity of an acceptance is governed by four principal rules.

• It must take place while the offer is still in force, i.e. before it has lapsed (See lapse of offer) or been revoked (See revocation of offer).
• It must be on the same terms as the offer. An acceptance made subject to any variation is treated as a counteroffer.
• It must be unconditional, thus an acceptance subject to contract is not a valid acceptance.
• It must be communicated to the offeror. Acceptance by letter is treated as communicated when the letter is posted, but telex is equated with the telephone, so that communication takes place only on receipt.

However, when the offer consists of a promise to confer a benefit on whoever may perform a specified act, the offeror waives the requirement of communication as a separate act. If, for example. he offers a reward for information, a person able to supply the information is not expected to accept the offer formally. The act of giving the information itself constitutes the acceptance. the communication of the acceptance, and the performance of the contract.

In relation to Contracts and Bills of exchange

In relation to contracts generally, the term “acceptance” means the signification of assent by one person to a proposal made by another.

In relation to contracts of sale the term has two signification which must be distinguished. There is an acceptance in performance of the contract when the buyer intimates to the seller that he has accepted the goods, or when he does any act in relation to them inconsistent with the ownership of the seller; but for the purposes of the 17th section of the Statute of Frauds, it is sufficient if he does any act which recognises a pre-existing contract of sale, even though lie may not be precluded from afterwards rejecting the goods (see SALE).

In relation to bills of exchange the term primarily means the acceptance by the drawee of a bill of exchange duly written thereon and signed; but as the main object of the drawer of a bill is to get it accepted, the term ” acceptance ” is frequently used to denote the bill itself, and is then synonymous with “bill of exchange“.

Acceptor is the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn, namely, the drawee, becomes the acceptor by signifying his assent to the document in writing (see BILLS OF EXCHANGE). The validity of an acceptance sometimes turns on very intricate points of law. [1]

Resources

Notes

1. Robert Harry Inglis, Sir, Dictionary of Political Economy, 1915

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Further Reading