The Judgment Stress Test · For lawyers · Free
The revoked offer
The decided case
On Monday, Pryce posted a letter to Dunmore offering to sell him his boat for £12,000. The letter said the offer was open until Friday. Dunmore gave nothing in return for that promise.
On Wednesday, Pryce sold the boat to a third person. On Thursday morning, Dunmore’s friend Karim, who had seen the sale, told Dunmore about it. Karim is well known to Dunmore and is reliable.
On Thursday afternoon, Dunmore posted a letter accepting the offer. Dunmore sued Pryce for failing to deliver the boat.
The rules the court applied
- Rule A. An offer may be revoked at any time before it is accepted, but a revocation takes effect only when it reaches the person to whom the offer was made.
- Rule B. A revocation reaches the offeree if the offeree learns of it from any reliable source, even if it did not come from the person making the offer.
- Rule C. A promise to keep an offer open is binding only if the offeree has given something in return for it.
The decision
Dunmore’s claim failed: there was no contract. Pryce’s promise to keep the offer open until Friday was unpaid, so under Rule C he was free to revoke. The revocation reached Dunmore on Thursday morning through a reliable source (Rule B), before Dunmore accepted that afternoon, so under Rule A the offer had ended and there was nothing left to accept.
Everything you need is on this page: no outside law, and no tools. All places, cases and people are fictional (the Republic of Eastmark). For each change below, change only that one fact and keep everything else as in the decided case.
Change 1 of 6
Nobody tells Dunmore anything about the sale. He posts his acceptance on Thursday afternoon and first learns of the sale on Friday.
Change 2 of 6
On Monday, Dunmore paid Pryce £50 in return for Pryce’s promise to keep the offer open until Friday. The rest is as before.
Change 3 of 6
The boat is painted blue, not green, and Pryce’s letter described it as ‘my blue boat’ instead of ‘my green boat’.
Change 4 of 6
Dunmore accepts by email at 9 a.m. on Thursday, just before Karim tells him about the sale at 10 a.m.
Change 5 of 6
In his letter, Pryce wrote: ‘I promise I will not sell to anyone else before Friday.’ Dunmore still gave nothing for it. The rest is as before.
Change 6 of 6
On Thursday morning, Dunmore’s neighbour Lena, whom he has met twice, tells him she thinks she saw Pryce selling the boat. Dunmore posts his acceptance that afternoon.
Professional skills training with fictional material. It is not legal advice and is not accredited by any court, regulator or professional body.
Teaching? Share this with your class
Free to use in class. The free parts open for everyone, no account needed.