Offer & Acceptance

Invitation to treat (ITT)

• An ITT is an expression of willingness to recieve offers. An ITT has no legal importance - it simply precedes an offer.
• An advertisement of goods for sale/goods in a shop window are normally construed as an ITT because this protects sellers of goods from being bound to supply limiteless amounts of products.
• This was established in Boots v Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain where it was held that in self-service shops (a new type of shop at the time) goods on the shelf are an ITT, not an offer.
• Similarly in Fisher v Bell, the shop keeper was not liable for 'offering to sale' an offensive weapon (a flick knife in this instance) because goods in the window constitute an ITT.
• In Harvey v Facey it was established that a statement of the lowest cash price acceptable for goods is an ITT, not an offer. There was therefore not a contract in this case.
• Partridge v Crittenden established that an advertisement of goods for sale is an ITT, not an offer. Advertising bramblefinches for sale was consequently not an offence.
• The same principle is applied to goods in a catalogue/ price lists as was held in Grainger and Sons v Gough.
• However, an advertisement for a reward is in fact an offer to enter into a unilateral contract if the specified conduct is completed…