Section 7 - Contract Act
Section 7
Section 7 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872
"7. Acceptance must be absolute.-In order to convert a proposal into a promise the acceptance must-
(1) be absolute and unqualified;
(2) be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner, unless the proposal prescribes the manner in which it is to be accepted. If the proposal prescribes a manner in which it is to be accepted, and the acceptance is not made in such manner, the proposer may, within a reasonable time after the acceptance is communicated to him, insist that his proposal shall be accepted in the prescribed manner, and not otherwise; but, if he fails to do so, he accepts the acceptance."
Acceptance of a conditional offer with a further condition
Contract Act, 1872, Section 7 – Conditional contract - Whether the acceptance of a conditional offer with a further condition results in a concluded contract, irrespective of whether the offerer accepts the further condition proposed by the acceptor? .
Acceptance of an offer may be either absolute or conditional. If the acceptance is conditional, offer can be withdrawn at any moment until absolute acceptance has taken place.
Contract Act, 1872, Section 7 – - An acceptance of an offer may be either absolute or conditional. If the acceptance is conditional the offer can be withdrawn at any moment until absolute acceptance has taken place - Punjab Excise Act, 1914 - Section 34(2), Section 60- Punjab Excise Act, 1914 - Rules 5 and 34.
Acceptance of the offer must be absolute and unqualified and it cannot be conditional
Held that under Section 7 of the Contract Act acceptance of the offer must be absolute and unqualified and it cannot be conditional. However, in the facts and circumstances of that case, on a reading of the letter of acceptance as a whole, the Appellant's argument that the letter was intended to make a substantial variation in the contract, by making the deposit of security a condition precedent instead of a condition subsequent, was not accepted.
An acceptance with a variation is no acceptance
Contract Act, 1872, Section 7 - It is a cardinal principle of the law of contract that the offer and acceptance of an offer must be absolute - It can give no room for doubt - The offer and acceptance must be based or founded on three components, that is, certainty, commitment and communication - However, when the acceptor puts in a new condition while accepting the contract already signed by the proposer, the contract is not complete until the proposer accepts that condition - An acceptance with a variation is no acceptance - It is, in effect and substance, simply a counter proposal which must be accepted fully by the original proposer, before a contract is made.( Haridwar Singh v. Bagun Sumbrui and Ors., AIR 1972 SC 1242, relied)
On facts:
In the response to the tender floated by the Respondent-Port Trust, the Appellant had submitted its offer conditionally subject to inspection being held at the Depot of the Appellant. This condition was not accepted by the Respondent-Port Trust unconditionally. The Respondent-Port Trust agreed to inspection at the Depot of the Appellant, but imposed a further condition that the goods would be finally inspected at the showroom of the Respondent-Port Trust. This Condition was not accepted by the Appellant. It could not, therefore, be said that there was a concluded contract. There being no concluded contract, there could be no question of any breach on the part of the Appellant or of damages or any risk purchase at the cost of the Appellant. The earnest deposit of the Appellant is liable to be refunded.