OCR Text |
Show POPULAR TALKS ON LAW. A ' Copyrighted, 1D00, by William C. Sprague, President The Sprague Cor-respondence Cor-respondence School of Law. Contracts. Every contract Includes an offer ann an acceptance. An offer or proposal for a contract may be made In person, by agent, by telegraph, or by letter, and an assent to It or an acceptance of It may bo iS) given In tho camo manner. W If the proposition is made by letter, and Is sen by mall, the person making i) the offer may retract by a subsequent letter which reaches tho oftleree at any time before an answer of acceptance has been written and put In the mall. j Example: A In Detroit malls a lct-"m lct-"m ter on Friday to B In Now York offering of-fering to sell him live hundred dozen eggs at eight cents a dozen. This letter let-ter reaches B Saturday noon. Saturday Satur-day morning A writes a letter to B withdrawing his offer, which letter 0, reaches B Monday morning, whilo ho is in the act of writing a letter accepting accept-ing tho offer. It is too into for him to mail tho letter and thereby accept it. As soon as an acceptance is put into tho mall the contract Is closed as to both parties. Example: On Friday, A in Detroit writes a letter to B In Now York, offering offer-ing him five hundred dozen eggs at eight cents a dozen. The letter reaches U Saturday noon. Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock B writes a letter accepting the offer and deposits it in the mall box provided by tho post ofllco authorities, authori-ties, at the street corner. On tho 4 o'clock delivery B receives a letter from A withdrawing his offer. A'& withdrawal Is too lato; tho contract was closed at 3 o'clock. An acceptance by letter takes effect from tho time when it is mailed and not from the time of Its receipt by the party making the offer. A retraction, however, takes effect when the letter of retraction is received re-ceived and not at the time of mailing it. The law as to the making of contracts con-tracts by letter, telegraph, etc., grew out of the practice in early days of transmitting communications by private pri-vate agencies. In an early case it was decided that a sale was complete when the letter o) acceptance was mailed in response lo a mailed letter containing contain-ing tho offer the court merely deciding decid-ing that by sending tho offer through tho mall tho offerer made the mall his agent for tho receipt of his acceptance. The theory is therefore that where a man making an offer uses tho United States malls for tho purpose of trans-Jk trans-Jk mltting his offer he makes tho post ofllco department his agent, and an ac-, ac-, ceptance delivered to an agent is the same as if delivered to tho principal. It is on this theory that a contract Is complete when the acceptance is de-.) de-.) llvered to tho postofllco for transmls- sion; whilo a retraction is not complete ft until it is delivered to tho person to l whom it Is addressed, tho mail not being tho agent of the acceptor but tho agent of tho offerer, that being tho means he has chosen by which to com- mnnlnntn hlfl offor. Tho fact time tho post has become a public agency and not a prlvato agency, as formerly, does not prohibit tho application ap-plication of tho theory; one may make a public agency his own agent as much as ho can mako a prlvato individual his agent. So one may bo bound when ho really does not know that ho is bound, as one does not usually know tho moment when nn acceptance Is put Into tho malls. . ., If a proposition and its retraction reach tho person to whom they are sent at the same Instant of time the Vgm question arises as to tho result of an W acceptance, -has been held that tho offer was opened and an acceptance niii'iT iimim posted before the letter of retraction I opened and read, tho contract Is binding. bind-ing. If tho letter containing tho olTor Is opened and read and afterwards tho letter of retraction Is read, nnd then a letter accepting Is posted, It Is not a contract. Tho person must have had no actual notlco of the retraction at tho time ho malls his acceptance in order that tho contract may bo complete. com-plete. If A should send by mall an offer ov goods at a certain prlco and ton hours later to ensure a sale, send a second offer of tho same goods for less money, and B mails an acceptance of tho llrst offer before ho receives the second offer, of-fer, ho cannot avoid his llrst acceptance accept-ance by writing an acceptance of the second offer and putting It In tho malls, stating therein that ho avoids his ilrst acceptance. If on receipt of tho llrst offer he-malls his acceptanco and two hours later receives tho second offer of a lower price and then telegraphs his acceptanco of tho second offer disaffirming disaf-firming tho first, ho is still bound to tho llrst acceptanco. A contract once made Is lrrovocablo except by the agreement of both parties. Tho moment mo-ment the letter accepting tho llrst offer of-fer was posted the contract was complete, com-plete, oven although the acceptanco never reached tho offerer. Nearly all questions of validity of contracts by mall and telegraph may bo answered by bearing In mind that tho contract is completo tho moment tho letter accepting accept-ing tho offer is posted. It must be borno in mind that tho posting of tho letter of acceptance, or the sending of tho telegram, must be such a posting or sending as puts tho communication practically out of tho control of the sender; for instance, if tho acceptor write his letter of acceptanco accept-anco and place It in his own private lotter box to bo called for by his private pri-vate messenger at a certain tlmo In tho day and taken by him to tho post office, It is not posted within tho meaning mean-ing of tho law. Or, if tho acceptor give tho letter to a messenger, other than a postman or accredited agent or the postoffice department, ho has not thereby made tho acceptanco complete until his messenger has placed tho let-tor let-tor In tho postoffice box, or tho post-ofllce, post-ofllce, or delivered It to an accredited agent of tho postolllce authorities, so that if one writes a letter of acceptance accept-ance and gives it to a private messenger messen-ger to be taken to tho postofllco and a telegram Is received withdrawing tho offer while tho messenger Is enrouto to tho postofllco, oven although ho mny bo at the very door of tho office, tho retraction of tho offer Is sufficient. (To be continued.) - |