Maclay v. Harvey

Citations

• 90 Ill. 525

Syllabus

<p>1. Contract—by letter, when closed. A letter written in reply to an offer, which restates the terms of the offer, but with some variations, though slight, can not be regarded as the consummation of a contract, and requires an acceptance upon the terms thus stated, and until unequivocally accepted, is only a mere proposition or offer.</p> <p>2. Where a person makes an offer by post, asking for, or where from the nature of the business he has a right to expect, an answer by return mail, the offer can only endure for a limited time, and the making of it is accompanied by an implied stipulation that the answer shall be by return mail, and if that implied stipulation is not satisfied, the person making the offer is released from it.</p> <p>3. Where a person sent by letter an offer to engage the plaintiff as a trimmer in his millinery shop, asking for a prompt reply, which letter was received by the plaintiff on the 22d day of March, which she answered by postal card on the next day, accepting the offer*, and which, if then mailed, would have reached the defendant on the 24th, but which she gave to a boy to mail, who neglected to mail it until the 25th, it was held, that the defendant was not bound by his offer, the plaintiff not having mailed notice of her acceptance in sufficient time, nor was he bound, after receiving her answer, to notify her that her acceptance had not been signified in .time,-—and his intention afterwards to accept her services, and attempt to see her, not having been acted on, would not change the rule of law.</p> <p>4. The negligence of a party’s agent in mailing her letter accepting an offer to employ the writer of the letter, is her own negligence, and the writer must bear the consequence of the delay in her agent in mailing the same.</p>