Indian Contract Act of 1872: Acceptance and Role of Acceptance

According to Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, of 1872,  the definition of acceptance states that “when the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted”. A proposal, when accepted, becomes a promise and creates mutual obligations and rights between the contracting parties.

Types of Acceptance

● Expressed acceptance: If the acceptance is written or oral.

● Implied acceptance: If the acceptance is shown by conduct

● Conditional acceptance: When a person to whom an offer has been made tells the offeror that he or she is ready to accept the offer with certain changes made to the condition of the offer.

Legal rules relating to acceptance

In order to create a valid acceptance, there are some legal rules that must be

followed: 

• Acceptance must be unqualified and unconditional.
• The acceptance must be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner
• Acceptance of an offer is the acceptance of all its terms
• Communication of acceptance must be made by the acceptor or his agent
• Acceptance may be expressed or implied
• Mental acceptance is no acceptance
• Acceptance of the general offer need not be communicated
• A mere answer to a question can neither constitute an offer nor an acceptance

Modes of acceptance 

There are two modes by which acceptance can happen, they are following as

1. Communication of acceptance by an action – This includes verbal or written communication. So, this will also cover texting, emails, and phone calls.

2. Conveying acceptance through conduct – The offeree may do this by acting in a way that suggests acceptance. For instance, you are required to pay the fare with conduct as you board a bus.