BBL Paper
Question 2
Ariana sends a fax to Berni offering to sell to her up to 100 boxes of special edition Harajuku Perfume at RM200 per box. The fax was sent on Tuesday morning at 10:00a.m. Berni telephones Ariana and inquires if she could buy the perfume at a price of RM150.00 per box. Ariana informs Berni that she would consider the offer, but indicates that there are other buyers willing to pay more.
On Wednesday morning Berni decides to accept Ariana’s offer. As Berni is leaving the country that day, she instructs her secretary, Cindy, to communicate her acceptance of Ariana’s offer.
Cindy telephones Ariana but is only able to reach her 10 year old son. Cindy leaves a message with the boy. Unfortunately Ariana’s son forgot to inform him of the message. The very next day, Ariana sold the perfume to Diana at RM250.00 per box.
Advise the respective parties as to whether there is a contract of sale between them.
Answers
In this case, there are 2 issues that we need to determine. Firstly, is the existence of counter offer. There is a new offer made by Bernie to reduce the initial offered price, since it is not a mere request for further information, thus it’s considered as a counter-offer. On top of that, since there is a counter-offer made by Bernie, it eventually destroys the original offer which made by Ariana. In other word, by making a counter-offer, the original offer may be considered rejected and cannot be accepted later on. The offer which made by Ariana does not have lapse of time, thus it end after a reasonable time period. Besides, the initial offer is terminated due to failure of acceptor to fulfill condition precedent to acceptance. Another issue is whether the acceptance of the new offer is effective or ineffective. as we can refer to Section 2 (b) of Contracts Act 1950 stated that “When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted; a proposal when accepted become a promise” and Section
Ariana sends a fax to Berni offering to sell to her up to 100 boxes of special edition Harajuku Perfume at RM200 per box. The fax was sent on Tuesday morning at 10:00a.m. Berni telephones Ariana and inquires if she could buy the perfume at a price of RM150.00 per box. Ariana informs Berni that she would consider the offer, but indicates that there are other buyers willing to pay more.
On Wednesday morning Berni decides to accept Ariana’s offer. As Berni is leaving the country that day, she instructs her secretary, Cindy, to communicate her acceptance of Ariana’s offer.
Cindy telephones Ariana but is only able to reach her 10 year old son. Cindy leaves a message with the boy. Unfortunately Ariana’s son forgot to inform him of the message. The very next day, Ariana sold the perfume to Diana at RM250.00 per box.
Advise the respective parties as to whether there is a contract of sale between them.
Answers
In this case, there are 2 issues that we need to determine. Firstly, is the existence of counter offer. There is a new offer made by Bernie to reduce the initial offered price, since it is not a mere request for further information, thus it’s considered as a counter-offer. On top of that, since there is a counter-offer made by Bernie, it eventually destroys the original offer which made by Ariana. In other word, by making a counter-offer, the original offer may be considered rejected and cannot be accepted later on. The offer which made by Ariana does not have lapse of time, thus it end after a reasonable time period. Besides, the initial offer is terminated due to failure of acceptor to fulfill condition precedent to acceptance. Another issue is whether the acceptance of the new offer is effective or ineffective. as we can refer to Section 2 (b) of Contracts Act 1950 stated that “When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted; a proposal when accepted become a promise” and Section