Question

Andrew, a resident of Cali- fornia, received an advertising circular in the U.S. mail announcing a new line of regional cookbooks distributed by the Every-Kind Cookbook Co. Andrew didn’t want any books and threw the circular away. Two days later, Andrew received in the mail an introductory cookbook entitled Lower Mongolian Regional Cookbook, as announced in the circular, on a “trial basis” from Every-Kind. Andrew was not inter- ested but did not go to the trouble to return the cookbook. Every-Kind demanded payment of $20.95 for the Lower Mongolian Regional Cookbook. Discuss whether Andrew can be required to pay for the book.

Answer 1

A contract is nothing but the legal binding between two or more parties that enter into a legal agreement. The contract is valid if there is an offer made, offer accepted and the consideration to be paid by the promise made.

An enforceable contract is a contract which is valid by the court. Any contract which is either made verbally or written must include specific element in order to make it legally enforceable in a court. If any of the elements is missing from the contract, then it will not be enforceable.

A valid contract has four requirements. They must consist of offer, acceptance, consideration and intention of legal consequences.

In this scenario, there was no offer made by Every-Kind, there was no offer that was accepted by Andrew and there were no promises made. So there was no contract between Every-Kind and Andrew. So Andrew is not required to pay for the book.