Critically discuss the application of traditional rules of offer and Essay

Critically discuss the application of traditional rules of offer and acceptance in English contract law in the context of (i) standard term contracts; and (ii) electronic communications - Essay Example Offer is referred to as an expression of desire to contract on specific terms which are made intentionally to become a binding after the person to whom it was addressed accepts it. It can also be defined as the statement of terms that the offeror is ready to be bound with. Acceptance requires that both parties should have engaged in conduct that manifests their assent in subjective perspective. The traditional approach that is applied in contract law is involves analyzing contract formation in terms of one party doing an offer and the other one accepting the offer. It has been argued by some scholars that not all contracts are analyzed in terms of offer and acceptance. They instead argue that one should focus on correspondence and the parties conduct as well as the parties’ terms of agreement Contracts which can not be analyzed in this perspective of offer and acceptance are said to be exceptional (Hedley, 230). Some critics have argued that the principles of offer and acceptance have a marginal relevance in business conduction. Different rules that are related to contract formation appear inform technical and schematic contract law. Practically, the law can adopt a fair and flexible pragmatic approach. Although most contracts are made using the offer and acceptance process, some agreements cannot be explained fully using the traditional approach. There are cases th at may proof hard to reconcile using the traditional approach and they include contract not resulting from parties’ agreement. The court may imply a contract in the bases of public policy or on the bases of expediency which makes it difficult to analyze. Generally contractual terms are settled using two methods that is by express negotiation and standard terms. English law when contrasted with other legal systems uses the analysis traditional offer and acceptance in cases of standard