Question

Someone has stolen Mikey, our Maltese-Poodle. We place posters all over town offering a reward of $100,000 for the safe return of Mikey. Jimmy was walking down the street and finds Mickey. He returns Mickey to my family because our address was on Mickey’s dog tags. Jimmy was not aware of the reward. Using IRAC determine if Jimmy is entitled to the reward.

Answer 1

Issue:

Someone has stolen Mikey, our Maltese-Poodle. We place posters all over town offering a reward of $100,000 for the safe return of Mikey. Jimmy was walking down the street and finds Mickey. He returns Mickey to my family because our address was on Mickey’s dog tags. Jimmy was not aware of the reward.

Rule:

A contract is an agreement enforceable by law. An agreement is an accepted offer or proposal. An offer must be made with an intention to create legal relation. The offer must be communicated to the other party, which means that the latter should be aware of the offer. Communication may be expressed or implied. An offer may be general or specific.

Application:

In the given situation, the right to a reward could only be founded upon a contract. In order to constitute a contract, there must be acceptance of the offer, and there can be no acceptance, unless there is knowledge of the offer.

Conclusion:

As Jimmy was not aware of the offer ( the reward), there is no question of acceptance of the offer. And since there is no acceptance, there is no agreement. Since there is no agreement, there is no contract, and the question of enforceability of the contract does not arise. Since there is no question of enforceability, recovery of damages through the judicial system is out of the question.

Therefore, Jimmy is not entitled to the reward.