The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-02-25
ON CONTRACTS.
1hsiF Peculiarises When Made Eiths
by Letter or BY TeIerram.

1hsfr PecaNarittes When Made Eithss
by Letter or by Telegram.
The question Of rights and liabilities
under contracts made by correspondence,
or series Of letters or kilograms to and
from some one in another city in re-
lation to mutual business transactions,
is one that is frequently arising in bust
ness life. and with the principles Of law
governing such contracts or such CORES
pondence, it will be advantageous to most
business men to be familiar. Contracts
thus made are in their Dature the same
as all other contracts and governed by
the same rules, viz: There must be
parties capable of contracting, subject
matter to be contracted for, sufficient
consideration, and an assent or COM
pletion of the contracts, and it is of the
rules governing the determination of
this question only that we propose to
write now, and to give only those more
familiar rules that are well established
by adjudicated cases.
An offer made by mail or telegraph is
q continuing and open proposition until
its receipt by the party to whom it is
addressed, and such reasonable time
thereafter as will enable him to accept
or refuse it, or until actual notice of its
withdrawal by the party making that
offer reaches the party to whom the offer
has been made, and any act done by the
party evincing an intent to accept it be-
fore actually receiving such notice of its
withdrawal, is completion Of the con-
tract. 1t may be withdrawn by the
party making it at any time previous to
its acceptance by the other, but this no.
tce of withdrawal is not operative until
it has actually reached the party to
whom it is addressed.
For instance: If A should write to B,
making a certain offer for certain goods,
and B should write accepting such offer
the contract would be completed at the
time B posted his acceptance, although
A might in the meantime have written
another letter withdrawing his offer, pro
viding that B had mailed his acceptance
before receiving the notice of withdrawal
In other words, the contract is complete at
the time of mailing the acceptance of the
offer, and not at the time of the receipt
of such acceptance by the party making
the offer.
Should B delay his acceptance, how
ever, until the receipt of the notice of
withdrawal, no acceptance then made
could operate to bind A to the contract
The offer need not be revoked in the
same manner as it was made, either; and
should A. after making an offer to B.
alter his determination and telegraph B
to that effect, which telegram was re-
ceived by B previous to receipt of the
offer or its acceptance by him, it is a
complete withdrawal.
The entire question in each case is, Has
there been an assent to the terms offered
before the offer was withdrawn? If So,
there is complete contract, which can
only be rescinded by the consent of both
parties, while before such acceptance its
terms are constantly open to modifca-
ton by either.-American Merchant.
How the Fog Affected Observations.
A new story is told about the sharp
ness and briskness of the captains of the
transatlantic steamships. On recent
voyage of one of the we'll known vessels
plying between here and Europe, one Of
the passengers, woman, pestered the
captain to death with unnecessary ques-
tions. Some heavy weather set in, and
owing to the fog and rain the ships Off
GERS were unable to make their usual OBJ
servations. When the captain came
down to dinner on that afternoon his
prosecutor was waiting for him.
Rough weather, captain" she said.
"Somewhat.
"a good deal of rain"
"a good deal"
Pretty heavy fog"
Eyes. it is.
$50 heavy, l understand, that you
could not make your observation"
Yes grufly, but not heavy enough
to prevent you from making yours. -
New York Tribune.