Glassware Case - once Broken Considered Sold

QUESTION 1: ONCE BROKEN CONSIDERED SOLD

The phrase Once Broken Considered Sold had always come across in the shop that sold the fragile things such as glassware. People that read this are tend to think that they are bound by that clause which is if they break them, it will bound by the breach of contract. However, by the virtue of the law of contract and consumerism law, such clause is not bind and the customers are not bound to such clause.

Contract under the Section 2 (h) is stated as the agreement that enforceable by law. In addition, all contracts are agreements but not all agreements are contracts [Contract Act 1950, 2005]. It is stated under Section 10 (1) all agreement are contracts if they made by the free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with lawful object, and are not hereby expressly declared to be void [Ibid].

They are eight elements of contract which are offer, acceptance, and consideration, intention to create legal relation, certainty, legal capacity and free consent. In order for an agreement to become a contract, they must fulfill all the elements stated.

Offer is the proposal or the promise made by one party also known as the offeror to enter into a contract, on a particular set of terms, with the intention of being bound as soon as the party to whom the promise is made also known as the offeree signifies his acceptance [“The Law of Contract”, 2007].

The contract can be offer either to the individual party or to the certain group of people or to the public. The contract must not necessarily in written form as usually we see but it also can be in oral or implied by the conduct. However, the written forms of contract are more reliable in showing that the contracts are enforceable by law between them because their final agreement was stated in black and white.

However, people always get confused between the offer and the Invitation to Treat (ITT). It is important to acknowledge them because the effects of accepting them are different with each other. When an offer being made by the offeror and the one whom the offer being made signifies his acceptance, thus the contract was establish and they are bind by the law to perform the contract. Meanwhile, ITT is an invitation for any person to make a proposal to create a contract and it is a negotiation process whereby the contract is made only when the last negotiations completed and create a final agreement.

To made it clearer, the examples of ITT are a price list, a display of goods with price tags in a self-service supermarket, an advertisement, a tender and an auctioneer inviting bids for a particular article. Thus, the ITT can be said that there was open situation which any person can make a proposal for the other party to enter into a contract. And also that if there are still no final agreement agreed by both parties, the negotiation process between them can