In terms of a package holiday contract that if a client, after long discussions with his travel agent about all the details of a holiday, finally agrees to buy the package offered this will amount to an offer and if the operator replies that is willing to sell it to him this will amount to an acceptance and from that moment a contract exists.
In our case when John offered to Mary a holiday package she was not satisfied with price. That mean that they did not have an agreement.
Regulation 9 of the Package Travel Regulations is provides not only certain information that must be in a contract but also, if practicable, that it must be put in writing and communicated to the consumer before the contract is made. Regulation 9 states:
The other party to the contract shall ensure that –
- the contract contains at least the elements specified in schedule 2 to these regulation;
- all the terms of the contract are set out in writing or such other form as is comprehensible and accessible to the consumer and are communicated to the consumer before the contract is made; and
- a written copy of these terms is supplied to the consumer.
According to regulation 9 all the information must be in writing and comprehensible to the consumer. In our case there is no writing contract between Mary and John.
According to the “Law of Contract” book (Chandler, A., Brown I 2007) an offer may generally be revoked at any time before it has been accepted, provided that the revocation is communicated to the offeree. This is so even though the offeror has indicated that he will keep his offer open for a specified time. Where, however, the offeror has contracted to keep his offer open, revocation of that offer will amount to a breach of the contract of option. An offer cannot be revoked after acceptance.
An unaccepted offer will be revoked when the offeror (or his agent) communicates to the offeree, in any manner his unequivocal intention to revoke the offer either expressly or impliedly. However, an offer may also be revoked without such a direct communication by the offeror to the offeree:
- Where an offer is made to all the world, it may be revoked by giving the same notoriety to the revocation as to the offer.
- Any offer will be revoked where the offeree receives reliable information from any third person that the offeror no longer intends to contract with him.
- Whilst an offer normally cannot be revoked merely by the offeror acting inconsistently with it, it can be brought to an end by a terminating condition.
- Where an offer is made to a large organisation, it may be that the offer is revoked when that revocation is opened in the ordinary course of business.
- The offeree may be estopped from denying receipt of revocation.
An offer to enter into a unilateral contract is generally subject to all the above rules; it may be revoked at any time before the offeree commences the requested act of acceptance and it cannot be revoked after the offeree has completed that act. The position is more doubtful, however, where the offeree has commenced but not completed the requested act of acceptance at the time when the offeror purports to revoke. On one view, the offer remains revocable until the requested act has been completed; on a second view, the offeror becomes bound once the offeree unequivocally commences performance, either because that commencement constitutes an acceptance (though not a performance), or because there is an implied collateral contract to keep the offer open; whereas on a third view, there is an implied promise to pay on a (a Latin phrase meaning "as much as he has deserved) basis for the proportion of the requested act completed at the time of revocation.
In principle there is no legal commitment until a contract has been concluded by the acceptance of an offer and, up to that point, either party is free to change his mind and withdraw from the negotiations by (Offord v Davies, 1862)
In our case according to the above there was an offer but no acceptance, so John could any time legally and ethically withdraw his offer because the requested act of the acceptance was never completed by Mary.
As a conclusion made by the above references Mary is not right in this case, because she refused John’s offer, saying that the package price was too high therefore they did not have any agreement. So John was free to sell the package to anyone else. Additionally Mary was wrong insisting on saying that they already had a contract, because a contract has to be written. John in this case is right because he acted according to the regulations and laws.
The only mistake he made in my opinion is that he should have informed Mary that he is planning to sell the package to Tommy.
References
Grant, D., Mason, S. 2007 Holiday Law: The Law Relating to Travel and Tourism. 4th edition. London: Sweet & Maxwell.
Chandler, A., Brown I 2007 Q & A Law of Contract. 6 edition. Oxford University pressed.