Stevenson v McLean [1880] 5 QBD 346

• Defendant offered to sell Plaintiff iron for a certain sum. Plaintiff asked Defendant if he “would accept [the sum Defendant proposed] for payment over two months or, if not, what was the longest limit you would give?”

• Defendant then sold the iron to a 3rd party. Plaintiff, having heard nothing from Defendant and later wrote to him deciding to take up the original offer.

• The court held that Defendant’s correspondence was a request for further information and NOT a counter offer, so that this case was distinct from Hyde v Wrench.

• The offer was still valid and therefore Plaintiff was entitled to take it up.

  • The distinction between query and conter-offer might be hard to sustain: supposing Plaintiff had written a letter saying “would you accept payment over 2 months?” This could be seen as either. In this case the phrase “if not” would suggest that Plaintiff is not necessarily asking Defendant to change his position, whereas in the example I give it could be construed that way- hard to determine…

• The court said that the question should have been answered (doesn’t say whether legally or morally) and that Defendant still had to communicate a revocation to be free from the original offer. 

RELATED CASES

• Hyde v Wrench