CONTRACT ACT, 1872-unit-4.2 EFFECT OF REFUSAL TO ACCEPT OFFER OF PERFORMANCE (SECTION 38)

Unit-4.2 EFFECT OF REFUSAL TO ACCEPT OFFER OF PERFORMANCE  (SECTION 38) 

According to Section 38 of the Act - where a promisor has made an offer of performance to the promisee, and the offer has not been accepted, then the promisor is not responsible for non-performance, nor does he thereby lose his rights under the contract.

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4.3 EFFECT OF REFUSAL OF PARTY TO PERFORM WHOLLY (SECTION 39) 

Every such offer must fulfill certain conditions which are as follows, namely:

(i) it must be unconditional;

(ii) it must be made at a proper time and place, and under such circumstances that the person to whom it is made may have a reasonable opportunity of ascertaining that the person by whom it is made is able and willing there and then to do the whole of what he is bound by his promise to do;

(iii) if the offer is an offer to deliver anything to the promisee, then the promisee must have a reasonable opportunity of seeing that the thing offered is the thing which the promisor is bound by his promise to deliver.

An offer to one of several joint promisees has the same legal consequences as an offer to all of them.

Example 4: P promises to deliver certain goods to R. P takes the goods to the appointed place during business hours but R refuses to take the delivery of goods. This is an attempted performance as P the promisor has done what he was required to do under the contract.