C OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE. 



proved.(a) A bought and sold note (h) is evidence of the 

 bargain ; and it is not necessary in Scotland for a signed 

 note to be entered in the broker's books, (c) Should the 

 broker not previously communicate the buyer's name, the 

 seller may, on its disclosure, reject the bargain within a 

 reasonable time, if he find the buyer's credit bad.(tZ) 



6. Offer and Acceptance. — An offer is an obligation pro- 

 visional on acceptance. It is presumed to continue till 

 acceptance, but may be recalled before acceptance, (e) 

 It may be made by parole, by letter, or tacitly, as when 

 horses are sent without or contrary to order, in which cases 

 acquiescence is acceptance.(/) 



An absent offerer is understood to say : " If you receive 

 no notice to the contrary, you shall be entitled to hold 

 me as continuing my offer up to the time of posting or 

 despatching your acceptance ; which, if done debito tetniJore, 

 shall bind the contract." ((/) 



If, in construing an offer, it is found that it amounts to 

 a promise binding the offerer for a reasonable or specified 

 time, the offeree may claim specific performance of his 

 contract, or damages for its breach ; but, if not, there is 

 locus poenitentice, and the offerer may resile ;(/i) but the 

 recall of an offer has no effect unless communicated before 

 acceptance. (^) 



Acceptance is either tacit or express. It is tacit where 

 a horse is sent on approval and kept, if the proposal be 

 so made as to require rejection if the buyer do not mean 



(a) Bell's Pr. 89 ; Benj. 249 et seq. 



{b) These are not common in Scotland ; for their form and effect, see Benj. 

 253 ct seq. 



(c) B. Pr. 89 ; but it is necessary in England, Grant v. Fletcher, 1826, 5 B. 

 and Cr. 436 ; Thornton v. Charles, 1842, 9 M. and W. 802. 



(d) Hodgson v. Davies, 1810, 2 Camp. 530. 



(e) B.C. i. 343 ; Stair, i. 3, 9 ; Ersk. iii. 3, 88. 

 (/) B. Pr. 74 ; see § 21, sale and return. 



[g) Lord Deas in Thomsom v. James, 1855, 18 D. 1, 25. 



\h) Walker v. Milne, 1823, 2 S. 379 ; Lord Deas in Allan v. Gilchrist, 1875, 

 2 R. 587-590. 

 (i) Thomson, cit. 



