Question

What are the four terms that are required for "definite and certain" terms for an offer to be valid?

Answer 1

Definition : Offer can be defined as " When one person signifies to another his willingness to do or abstain from doing anything, with a view of obtaining the assent of that order to such act or abstinence, he is said to make an offer.

Meaning : In simple words , it is an agreement between two persons agrreing or not agreeing to do any act.

Example : Mr A agrees to sell his house to Mr B for an amount of 1lakh. The offer is always entered between offeror and offeree. Offeror is the person who initiates the offer or say the person making offer and offeree is the person to whom the offer is made. If we consider the above example. A is the offeror and B is the offeree.

Essentials of a vaild offer

1. Offer may be expressed or implied: An offer can be either in written or oral form. When the offer is in written form or orally conveyed by words it is called expressed order and when the order is in form of actions , conducts or dealings etc it is called implied offer.

2. Offer must create legal relations: When entering in offer they can be made valid when its legal and there is legal obligation between two parties.Example : Mr A organises a party and invites Mr.B to the party but he fails to attend the party he is not liable of any penalty as the invitation is a social one and not legal one.

3. Offer must be clear and definite : The terms of an offer made should be definite and clearly stated, else the offer entered would be considered void.

4. Offer can be specific or general: The offer is made to a specific person. An offer can be made to one person or more than one person. At times, when offer is general it made to public as a whole. When it is followed by any person the offer comes into existence. Example : Mr XYZ offered to sell 1000 tonnes of wheat next month. This offer is not specific as the type of wheat is not mentioned in the offer.

5. Offer must be communicated: The offer must be communicated to the offeree. If the person is not aware of such offer then it cannot be a valid offer. Example : Mr A lost his gold chain and asks his friend to find the chain for him, friend goes in search of the chain. In the mean time, A makes an announcement that whoever finds the chain will be rewarded with 1000 rupees. The friend finally finds the chain and when he comes to know about the chain he says A is liable to pay him 1000 rs but he fails.The reason behind this is that the friend was not aware of this reward when we found the chain.

6. Offers can be subject to conditions: When offer is made , it may be subject to conditions.When such conditions are accepted then only the offer becomes valid.