Unilateral Offer
Unilateral Offer Meaning
Unilateral contracts arise where A promises to do something in return for an Act to be performed by B. They can be best seen, then, as ‘If you do this’ types of contract. This is a type of contract where commencing performance is the requisite acceptance
Example
I will pay you £10 if you were to take some notes for me at a law lecture I could not attend on a certain day this week.
Example
If, during my contract law lecture, I say “I will pay £10,000 to the first student to swim the length of the river Thames by the end of the day,” I have just created a unilateral contract that can potentially be accepted by any one of the recipients. If an hour later, a student comes to my office drenched, claiming to have been the first to swim a length of the Thames and claiming the evidence has been put on YouTube, I am bound.
General Principle: In unilateral contracts, the performance of a requested action amounts acceptance and binds the offeror to give a reward.
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. [1892] 1 QB 256
Facts: At the time of an influenza epidemic, the defendants advertised the sale of a device called a ‘smoke ball’. They posted the advert in the newspapers, which stated that they would pay £100 to anybody who ‘caught influenza, a cold, or any other kind of disease that came from catching a cold’ after they used the ‘smoke ball’ three times a day for fourteen days, in accordance with the instructions they provided with each ball. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company also mentioned in the advertisement that they had put aside £1000 in a bank account to be able to pay such fees. Mrs. Carlill bought a smoke ball and followed all of the instructions, but caught influenza and, as such, went on to claim £100 from the company. The company responded by saying that the advert was nothing but a ‘sales puff,’ or a piece of sales talk (e.g. Red Bull gives you wings), and thus there was no offer; furthermore, they argued it would be unreasonable and impossible to contract to the entire world at large. Ratio: The Court of Appeal held that the offer was actually a unilateral one; one with the intention to create relations to anyone who met the conditions of the offer to claim £100. The court also rationalised that because it was a unilateral offer, there was no need for communication of acceptance. The court finally addressed the point that an offer to the world at large could be made if it was capable of acceptance, so long as the conditions stated were fulfilled. Mrs. Carlill was, therefore, able to claim £100. Application: Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. claimed that their advertisement was too vague to be treated as a definite offer. However, if an advertisement is precise and detailed to the point where completing the stated conditions would fulfil a contract, then it is an enforceable unilateral contract and not merely a “sales puff.”
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