Module 2 · Chapter 3

Battle of the Forms: Whose Terms Govern the Contract

Two businesses each send their own terms, and nobody signs. English law still finds a contract. This chapter shows how, and why the last form sent before delivery usually carries the terms.

≈ 8 min read 8-question test

In this chapter

  • How a contract forms from a quote, an order and an acknowledgement, with no signature
  • Why the last form sent before delivery usually carries the terms
  • What a line saying “our terms prevail” is worth, and why the answer swings £30,000

3.1Battle of the forms in one paragraph

Duarte’s first question is this: whose terms apply? Each side sent its own terms, and nobody signed anything. Lawyers call this the battle of the forms, and the court decides which set is in the contract. The last set sent before delivery usually wins, and here that was Frescalva’s acknowledgement.

Key point

Find the last form sent before delivery, and check who acted after it. That form usually carries the terms. A line in the other side’s form saying its terms prevail does not change that.

Also in this chapter

  1. No signature, still a contract
  2. Offer, counter-offer and the last shot
  3. The order form nobody read
  4. Your job

Preview

The rest of this chapter opens with a free account. Every edition is free to read until 31 January. Open a free account by the end of that day and keep every edition published by then, for good. Open it from the edition home →