The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-05-10
How Contracts are Made.

To make an agreement binding, one
party must make an offer, and the other
accept it. 1t takes two of them to make
bargain. The parties must be of the
same mind at the uame time. A man
asks the dealer what the price of an arti-
Gle is; the dealer answers giving the
price the buyer says that he will take
it. There is no contract here unless the
dealer then agrees 20 sell it. When amau
makes an offer and another acceptsit, the
second must let the first know that he &C.
cepts it. Ifa mar agrees to guarantee
that another will pay for what he pur-
chases, those who trust the party on the
faith of the guaranty, must notify the
person who made ii, or he will not be
bound.
Again, if one offers opay one hundred
dollars for horse, the seller to accept
within twenty eight hours, the propoaer
is not bound unless the other does accept
in that time. More than this, one who
makes an offer can withdraw 1t any time
before it is accepted.
If an offer is made and no time is sta
ted for the buyer 10 decide whether or
not to make the bargain, the buyer must
decide within reasonable time. The
length of time that is reasonable differs
according to the commodity that is bar
gained for. Railway and mining shares,
for example, must be bought quickly or
not at all, for the law will not permit q
buyer to wait until the price of goods is
sure to have changed before deciding.
With other things that have steady val
ue longer time for rejecting is permit
ted.
The offer must be accepted as it is
made. If q seller offers ten barrels Of
-four at six dollars q barrel, he is not
bound to sell Eve barrels at that rate.
When land is offered. for sale and the
buyer offers to take it if the title proves
to be good, she buyer has not
made contract that will bind the seller.
A contract that is made in sport: or
as mere matter Of form, is not bind
ing.
If man makes a promissory note
while showing another how we'll he can
write, the note is not binding upon him
unless it has been sold to some person
who knew nothing about 1t and paid fol
1t.
a man who is embarrassed in busines,
gives bill of sale of his property to q
friend, so as to cheat creditors. No con-
tract exists and the creditors can hold
the property. Bus the person in whose
favor the bill of sale is made out Can
hold the goods against the fraudulent
debtor.
Another case of this kind is often seen
in newspaper articles. We read that a
lady and gentleman 60 through the cere'
mony at public entertainment to amuse
their friends and afterwards find that
they are really married. This is not
true. The marriage contract is no more
binding than any other contract unless il
is made and intended seriously, not in
sport.
The contract must'be made freely and
without compulsicn. If a robber holds a
pistol at travellers head, and threatens
to shoot him unleus he gives note for
sum of money, the note thus obtained is
worthless. Again, landlord, takes 3
boarder's wedding suit from him on the
day the latter is to be married, and re-.
fuses to give it up until note is given
for board due. The landlord can.
not enforce the payment of note so Civ.
en-.
False statements made by either party
will make a contract worthless. If 8
person buys land, the seller saying
that there are twenty-five acres in the lot
the buyer may refuse to accept it
if there are in fact only twenty-three
acres.