In the high court of justice queen’s bench division between: john jarndyce



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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN:
JOHN JARNDYCE

Claimant

- and -
JAMES RONALD HARTLEY

Defendant


MOOT PROBLEM


Mr Jarndyce is a second hand bookseller. He advertised in the Cambridge Chronicle that he was selling two books: “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days” and “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary”. No information was provided as to the price of the books.


Mr Hartley, a keen angler and an ardent lexophile, read the advertisement and was curious to know more. Accordingly he telephoned Mr Jarndyce, and enquired as to the price of the books. Mr Jarndyce offered to sell “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days” – a rare first edition – to Mr Hartley for £30,000. Mr Jarndyce offered to sell “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary” to Mr Hartley for £1,000. In both cases, Mr Jarndyce told Mr Hartley that, if Mr Hartley wished to accept his offer, he should send a letter of acceptance to Mr Jarndyce by first class post.
Following the telephone call, Mr Hartley decided to purchase “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days”, and therefore immediately wrote a letter of acceptance to Mr Jarndyce, which he put in the first class post. He stated in the letter that he was still considering whether or not to purchase “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary”.
The next day, Mr Hartley chanced upon another first edition of “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days” while browsing in his local Oxfam shop. The shop had clearly not realised the value of the book, with the result that Mr Hartley was able to purchase it for £200.
As a result of his purchase in the Oxfam shop, Mr Hartley no longer wanted to buy the copy of “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days” offered for sale by Mr Jarndyce. Mr Hartley accordingly telephoned Mr Jarndyce in order to tell him this. Mr Jarndyce did not answer the telephone, so Mr Hartley left him the following message on his answerphone:
Hello Mr Jarndyce, this is J.R. Hartley. Please ignore the letter I sent to you; I no longer wish to purchase “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days”. I would, however, like to accept your offer to sell “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary”.
Mr Jarndyce listened to the answerphone message before he received Mr Hartley’s letter.
Mr Jarndyce was aggrieved to have lost the sale of “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days”, and was very angry with Mr Hartley. To spite Mr Hartley, he subsequently sold “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary” to another customer.
Mr Jarndyce now sues Mr Hartley for the price of “Fly-fishing: Memories of Angling Days”, claiming that Mr Hartley accepted his offer to sell the book – with the result that a binding contract was formed – when Mr Hartley posted his letter of acceptance. Accordingly, Mr Hartley’s attempt to revoke his acceptance had no effect.
Mr Hartley counterclaims for damages for the loss of the sale to him of “The Complete Oxford English Dictionary”. He contends that a binding contract was formed when he accepted Mr Jarndyce’s offer in the answerphone message. Mr Jarndyce’s defence to Mr Hartley’s claim is that Mr Hartley did not use the prescribed method of acceptance, namely letter sent by first class post, with the result that no contract was ever formed between them.

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