Trace acceptance and termination in time
Build a communication timeline and apply receipt, withdrawal and the limited postal exception.
Section Paper 3 · Law of contract
Exam scope and assessment notes
A Level · section 3.1.2. Original educational scenarios about the law of England and Wales, checked on 14 October 2026. Model answers are formative reasoning, not advice about a real dispute, Cambridge marks or predicted grades. Read the exact statute, case and exam-year source where a rule is disputed or changes. A larger annotated authority bank, full unseen papers and specialist law-teacher review remain outstanding.
Before you begin
- Read a short source carefully and separate its rule from the facts
- Explain which element a fact supports and what is still uncertain
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
What should a legal problem answer connect?
What you will learn
- Apply communication of acceptance and revocation
- Explain lapse, rejection and the limits of the postal rule
Locate the effective communication
Acceptance ordinarily must be communicated, including by conduct when the offer and circumstances permit it. An offeror cannot generally impose acceptance by saying silence will count. Unilateral offers can dispense with separate notification through the requested performance. Identify any prescribed method and whether an equally effective alternative is permitted.
Adams v Lindsell illustrates the postal exception: when post is a reasonable contemplated method, properly posting acceptance may be effective before receipt. It does not apply automatically to email or every message. Express wording requiring actual receipt can displace it, as can circumstances that make postal acceptance inappropriate.
Check whether the offer survives
Revocation ordinarily must reach the offeree before effective acceptance; posting withdrawal is not itself the postal acceptance rule. Reliable information from a third party can communicate withdrawal, illustrated by Dickinson v Dodds. Rejection, counter-offer and expiry can also terminate an offer; the stated deadline or a reasonable time matters.
A promise to keep an offer open is not always an enforceable option without the required supporting bargain or other legal basis. Withdrawal after requested unilateral performance begins can raise an implied obligation not to prevent completion, as the Errington and Daulia line illustrates. Do not simplify this into a universal right to withdraw at any moment or a universal entitlement after any preparatory act.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Does the postal rule automatically apply to an emailed acceptance?
Worked example
An offer requires acceptance to be received by noon. B posts an acceptance at 10 am; it arrives the next day. Does posting establish timely acceptance?
Show the worked solution
- Read the express receipt condition.
- Distinguish that condition from ordinary postal acceptance.
- Compare actual receipt with the deadline.
Answer Posting at 10 am does not satisfy the express requirement for receipt by noon. The postal exception cannot simply override the offer's receipt condition; the stated facts do not establish timely acceptance.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Guided: Identify the decisive event in the noon-deadline example.
Give me a hint
The offer defines timely acceptance by receipt.
Compare my reasoning
- Locate the receipt condition.
- Identify next-day arrival.
- Compare it with noon.
Actual receipt is decisive under the specified condition. Next-day arrival misses noon, so the earlier posting does not prove timely acceptance or agreement on these facts.
Look for these in your work
- Uses wording
- Uses arrival time
- Rejects automatic postal rule
Independent: Withdrawal is posted Monday but reaches B Wednesday. B validly accepts by an authorised method Tuesday. Is Monday posting itself decisive?
Give me a hint
Withdrawal ordinarily needs communication.
Compare my reasoning
- Distinguish withdrawal from acceptance.
- Find when withdrawal reaches B.
- Compare valid Tuesday acceptance.
Monday posting alone does not communicate revocation. On the stipulated valid Tuesday acceptance, later receipt of the withdrawal cannot retrospectively remove the agreement, subject to the actual formation facts.
Look for these in your work
- Distinguishes communications
- Uses timeline
- Avoids retrospective withdrawal
Application: A reward maker tries to withdraw after the recipient begins the requested performance. Which factual distinction needs analysis?
Give me a hint
Preparation differs from embarking on the act the offer requests.
Compare my reasoning
- Identify the requested act.
- Separate performance from preparation.
- Consider an implied obligation allowing completion.
The answer must examine whether the recipient embarked on the requested performance and whether the offer carries an implied obligation not to prevent completion. Merely buying equipment in preparation need not have the same effect; neither an automatic withdrawal nor automatic entitlement is justified without that analysis.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies act
- Distinguishes preparation
- Uses qualified rule
Common mistakes
- Applying postal acceptance to revocation
- Treating silence as imposed acceptance
- Ignoring receipt wording
What can you explain now?
Does the postal rule automatically apply to an emailed acceptance?
Compare with the explanation
No
The limited postal exception does not replace the ordinary communication analysis for every medium.
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Make it stick
Does the postal rule automatically apply to an emailed acceptance?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.