Question

Apply the legal principles to the facts given below and select the most appropriate answer.
Legal Principles:

1. Offer is a proposal made by one person to another to do any act or abstain from doing it. The person who makes the offer is known as the promisor or offeror and the person to whom an offer is made is known as the promisee or the offeree.
2. A contract comes into being by the acceptance of an offer. When the person to whom the offer is made signifies his consent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted and the parties are at consensus ad idem regarding the terms of the agreement.

Factual Situation: Tejas drove his car to a car park named Super Car Park (SCP).Outside the car park, the prices were displayed and a notice stated cars were parked at the owner's risk. An automatic ticket vending machine provided a ticket, a barrier was raised and Tejas parked his car. In small print on the ticket, it was stated that the ticket is issued subject to conditions displayed on the premises. On a pillar opposite to the machine was a notice stating the owners would not be liable for any injuries occurring on their premises. Tejas met with an accident and sought damages from SCP. SCP denied any liability on the basis of the exclusion clause which was mentioned in the notice on the pillar. Whether there are an offer and acceptance of the exclusion clause?

पर्याय

• There is a valid contract between Tejas and SCP as SCP had taken reasonable steps to bring the exclusion clause to Tejas's attention at the time of making the contract.

• The contract was made when Tejas received the ticket and parked his car. The ticket amounted to a contractual document which effectively referred to the terms which were clearly visible on the premises.

• The machine itself constituted the offer. The acceptance was by putting the money into the machine. The ticket was dispensed after the acceptance took place and therefore the exclusion clause was not incorporated into the contract.

• The machine itself constituted the offer. The acceptance was by putting the money into the machine and acceptance of the offer mean acceptance of all the terms of the offer and hence SCP is not liable.

Answer 1

The machine itself constituted the offer. The acceptance was by putting the money into the machine. The ticket was dispensed after the acceptance took place and therefore the exclusion clause was not incorporated into the contract.

Meeting of the minds (also referred to as mutual agreement, mutual assent, or consensus ad idem) is a phrase in contract law used to describe the intentions of the parties forming the contract. In particular, it refers to the situation where there is a common understanding of the formation of the contract. There must be evidence that the parties had each, from an objective perspective, engaged in conduct manifesting their assent, and a contract will be formed when the parties have met such a requirement. Thus legally speaking the machine itself constituted the offer by offering a parking area for consideration in the form of the parking fee, which was accepted by putting money into the machine. However, the exclusion clause cannot be said to be included in the contract as it was over as soon as the money was put into the machine thus SCP is liable