Acceptance The act of accepting; a receiving what is offered, with approbation, satisfaction, or acquiescence; esp., favorable reception; approval; as, the acceptance of a gift, office, doctrine, etc.
State of being accepted; acceptableness.
An assent and engagement by the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn, to pay it when due according to the terms of the acceptance.
The bill itself when accepted.
An agreeing to terms or proposals by which a bargain is concluded and the parties are bound; the reception or taking of a thing bought as that for which it was bought, or as that agreed to be delivered, or the taking possession as owner.
An agreeing to the action of another, by some act which binds the person in law.
The term acceptance is defined as a noun, in which it shows to have three different meanings.
The first is known as the act of taking or receiving something offered. For example, if someone is giving you a gift and you receive it, then that person has accepted the gift; therefore, having acceptance.
Another definition of acceptance has to deal with positive welcome; favor and endorsement. In which, a person could like someone and, have acceptance for them due to their approval of that person.
The third description of acceptance is that it can be act of believing or assenting.
Acceptance - "An express act or implication by conduct that manifests assent to the terms of an offer in a manner invited or required by the offer so that a binding contract is formed. The exercise of power conferred by an offer by performance of some act. The act of a person to whom something is offered of tendered by another, whereby the offered demonstrates through an act invited by the offer an intention of retaining the subject of the offer." (Chirelstein, 2001)
This definition overlaps with the definition of the quality known as toleration. Acceptance and tolerance are not synonyms.
E. Tolle (Power of Now, etc.) defines acceptance as a "this is it" response to anything occurring in any moment of life. There, strength, peace and serenity are available when one stops struggling to resist, or hang on tightly to what is so in any given moment. What do I have right now? Now what I am I experiencing? The point is, can one be sad when one is sad, afraid when afraid, silly when silly, happy when happy, judgmental when judgmental, overthinking when overthinking, serene when serene, etc.
Definition of ‘Acceptance’
All contracts are made by the process of a lawful offer by one party and the lawful acceptance of the other by the other party. X says to Y, “Will you buy my house for Rs. 50,000?” This is an offer. If Y says, “Yes”, the offer is accepted and contract is formed.
Proposal
An “offer “involves the making of a “proposal”. The term proposal is defined in the Contract Act as follows: “when one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to such act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal”
Offer
A proposal is also called an offer. The promisor or the person making the offer is called the offeror. The person to whom the offer is made is called the offeree.
Promise and Acceptance
“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.”
Acceptance
Who can accept?
An offer can be accepted only by the person or persons for whom the offer is intended. An offer made to a particular person can only be accepted by him be cause his is the only person intended to accept. An offer made to a class of persons can be accepted by any member of that class. An offer made to the world at large can be accepted by ny person whatsoever. X sold his business to Y without disclosing the fact to his customers. Z sent an order for goods to X by name. Y received it and sent letter of acceptance. Held, there was no contract between Y and Z because Z never made any offer to Y. Boulton v. Jones.
Rules regarding acceptance (The essential of a valid acceptance)
The acceptance of an offer to be legally effective must satisfy the following requirements;
1. It must be an absolute and unqualified acceptance of all the terms of the offer. If there is any variation, even on an unimportant point, between the terms of the offer and the terms of the acceptance, there is no contract. 2. Conditional Acceptance: In accordance with English law as well as with the term of Contract Act, an acceptance with a variation is no acceptance; it is simply a counter- proposal, which must be accepted by the original promiser before a contract is made. For example x offered to sell his house for Rs. 12,000. Y said, “Accepted for Rs. 10,000.” This is not an acceptance but a counter offer or counter proposal. But an acceptance is not called „conditional‟ if an immaterial term is added or if there occurs any misunderstanding between the parties for the interpretation of collateral terms. 3. Contracts subject to condition: There are cases where an “immediate binding contract is formed although some of the parties‟ rights and obligations may be dependent upon the happening of a particular event. For example, the agreement may contain such a term as „subject to the purchaser‟s solicitors approving the title.” 4. Clarification: The seeking clarification of offer neither amounts to the acceptance of the offer nor to the making of a counter offer. 5. The acceptance must be expressed in some usual or reasonable manner: The offeree may express his acceptance by word of mouth, telephone, telegram or by post. These are the usual methods of communicating acceptance to the offeror. An offer may also be accepted by conduct. If the offeree does what the offeror wants him to do, there is acceptance of the offer by conduct. Section 8 of the Act states that, “Performance of the conditions of a proposal or the acceptance of any consideration for reciprocal promise which may be offered with a proposal, is an acceptance of the proposal. 6. Mental acceptance or excommunicated assent does not result in a contract: No contract is formed if the offeree remains silent and does nothing to show that he has accepted the offer. Acceptance must be communicated to the offeror to shown by conduct. 7. The mode of acceptance: Where the promiser prescribes a particular mode of acceptance, the offeree must follow the particular mode of acceptance. For example, if the offeror says, “acceptance to be sent by telegram”, the offeree must send a telegram. If the offeree fails to follow the prescribed mode of acceptance, the proposer may, within a reasonable time after the acceptance is communicated to him, insist that the proposl be accepted in the prescribed manner and not otherwise. But if the proposer does not insist upon it, he accepts the acceptance as actually communicated. Thus, under the Indian Law the proposer has the option of waiving compliance with the prescribed mode of acceptance. 8. Time of Acceptance: It the offeror prescribed a time, the acceptance must be done within that time. If no time is prescribed the acceptance must be done within reasonable time. What is „reasonable‟ depends on the facts of the case. 9. When acceptance is complete: Section 4 of the Contract Act lays down that the communication of an acceptance is complete,- as against the proposer, when it is put in a course of transmission to him, so as to be out of the power of the acceptor; and as against the acceptor, when it comes to the knowledge of the proposer. 10. Before Offer: Acceptance must be given before the offer. This is the natural sequence. There cannot be acceptance before the offer is given from nay person. 11. The acceptance must be made while the offer is in force: Before the offer has been revoked or the offer has lapsed.
ACCEPTANCE-ITS ESSENTIALS A contract is an agreement or a drawing together of two or more minds to form a common intention which gives rise to an agreement which is enforceable by law. Thus there are two minimum parties in a contract. One proposes and the other accepts the proposal. Acceptance of the terms of proposal is giving consent to the contract. The Indian Contract Act(hereinafter referred as Act) prescribes certain essentials to form a valid acceptance. This is noted below. The definition of acceptance is in Section 2(b) of the Act. 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 contract. 1. Acceptance by the Offeree Offeree is the person to whom the proposal or offer is made. Acceptance must be made by the person to whom the proposal is made. If any other person accepts the proposal, it is not valid in law. He will not get any right in law unless it is a general offer. The offeror has made the offer to a specific person in order to get his assent. So it must be accepted by that specific person. Then only there will be an agreement and a resulting contract. 2. Acceptance in time In case of specific offers, the one who makes the offer generally gives a certain time within which the offer should be accepted by the offeree. This is done for giving certainty to the offer. So the acceptance must be within the time specified. But there are cases in which no time is specified. In such cases the acceptance must be within a reasonable time. After the time is over, the offer is not valid and cannot be accepted in the eyes of law. 3. Acceptance must be unconditional The terms of an offer must be made with a view to obtain the assent of other person to whom it is offered. Thus the terms should be reasonable. If in such a case, in the normal course the person supposed to accept the offer must do so without raising any complaints. Actually it is his discretion whether to accept it or not. There will be an agreement to the offer only if the offer has been accepted in the terms specified. If the offeree turns to be making certain conditions to accept the offer, then it is not a valid acceptance in the eye of law. This is so because if the person who accepts the offer on certain conditions, it is not a valid acceptance of the terms offered. It is only an acceptance of a modified offer which is different from the one offered by the offeror without his consent. So in the result it is not an acceptance of the terms offered as such and is not an acceptance. Section 7 of the Act says that the acceptance must be absolute and unqualified. 4. Communication Very much like the offer the acceptance should also be communicated. Mere silence cannot be considered accepting the terms of the offer. So the acceptance must be made in some visible form. 5. Particular method of acceptance If the terms of the offer specifies it to be accepted in some particular form, it should be made so. The person who made the offer can rightly reject the acceptance if it is not made in the form prescribed.