Is an invitation to treat an offer? Discuss? Essay

AnswerSection 2(a), Contracts travel 1950 provides that when one person signifies to an early(a) his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to the act or abstinence, he is said to make headway a proposal.Case M N Guha Majumder v R E Donough 1974 2 MLJ 114Facts billet owned by the defendant was advertised for sale, and write stick outs to purchase were invited. The complainant viewed the property on twain uses. During the interval between the two occasions the complainant was in communication with the defendants agent, and it was asseverate that the defendant had accepted the plaintiffs ply to purchase the property for RM70,000. There had been on the occasion of the second visit to the property some watchword on the mode of payment. There was also no clear agreement on the sale of orchidaceous plant plants which the defendant wished to sell separately, although the matter was discussed between the parties. T he defendant denied that he had decided to go on with the sale. The defendant was anxious, however, to effect a quick sale as he was desirous of leaving Kuching permanently for Johor bharu. issuing Whether there was a contract inexistence between the plaintiff and the defendant at the material time.Held 1. The law does non impute an mark to enter into such a legal relationship as that of vendor and purchaser where the circumstances and the conduct of the parties negative any intention of the kind. 2. The evidence indicated that the parties did not intend to be instantaneously bound. They had not the necessary animus contrahendi (means intention to contract). What passed was wholly a negotiation from beginning to end.Whether an advertisement is an furnish or an invitation to allot depends on the intention of the parties in each cutting. The courts have held thatadvertisements of bilateral contracts are not crannys whereas advertisements of unilateral contracts are construed to be offers.In the case of Majumder v Attorney-General of Sarawak, the Federal Court held that an advertisement in the newspaper for the post of a doctor was an invitation to treat. When an sell invites bids, he is merely making an invitation to treat, and when a bidder makes a bid, he is making an offer. The contract, i.e. the sale, is only make when the auctioneer announces its completion by the fall of the hammer. Similarly, a display of goods in a shop is an invitation to treat. An offer to buy is made when the customer puts the articles in a basket provided by the shop or takes the pointedness off the shelf. The contract is only made at the cashiers desk when the customer pays for the items.However, if it is clear in the circumstances that a party intends their words or conduct to constitute an offer, then the courts will be prepare to construe it as such. For example, in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke screwball Co. Ltd 1893 1 QB 256, the advertisement of a unilateral contract wa s held to be an offer. Case Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. Ltd 1893 1 QB 256Facts Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. Ltd. Advertised that they would offer 1,000 to anyone who still succumbed to influenza by and by using a certain remedy for a fixed period. The plaintiff duly used it but, nevertheless, undertake influenza. The plaintiff then sued for the money.Held The plaintiff was entitled to the 1,000 as she had accepted the offer made to the world at large.To summarize, an invitation to treat is not an offer, but rather is an offer to consider offers. Instances which are generally regarded as invitations to treat include-Auctions-Advertisement of tenders-Catalogues-Price lists and-Goods displayed in shop windows and shelves.