When a Contract Becomes a Gift: A Twist on Offer and Acceptance
contract judiciary beginner trick_questionImagine you're buying a car and the dealer gives you a free TV set. Sounds like a cool deal, right? But what if I told you that under the Contract Act, 1872, this "free" TV set might actually be a contract that you've unknowingly accepted? The issue comes when the dealer is actually trying to get you to commit to buying the car, and the TV set is just a "bait".
Most students get this wrong: they think that the acceptance of the TV set isn't part of the contract because it was given for free. But the key question is - what did you think was happening when you got the TV set? Did you think it was a genuine gift or was it part of the deal? This is where the concept of consideration comes in, and it's easy to get caught up in the theory...
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Agree. When a contract is performed in full and there's an intention to gift, it can indeed be considered as a gift. This concept is discussed in the cases of 'Pink's Case' and 'Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Selfridge & Co Ltd'. However, the courts will still look for explicit words or intention to gift, rather than just reliance or partial performance.