Acceptance of an offer means an unconditional agreement to all terms of that offer. Acceptance will often be oral or in writing, but in some cases, an offeree may accept an offer by doing something, such as delivering goods in response to an offer to buy. The courts will only interpret conduct as indicating acceptance if it seems reasonable to infer that the offeree acted with the intention of accepting the offer.
Merely remaining silent cannot amount to an acceptance, unless it is absolutely clear that acceptance was intended as illustrated in the case of Felthouse v Bindley (1862).
An acceptance must accept the precise terms of the offer. In Tinn v Hoffman (1873), one party offered to sell the other 1,200 tons of iron. It was held by the courts that the other party’s order of 800 tons was not an acceptance.
Unilateral contracts are usually accepted by conduct.
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