Formation of A Contract 中文翻译

2021年2月17日发(作者：which)

FORMATION OF A CONTRACT

合同的形成

1.

A contract is an agreement giving rise to obligations which are enforced or recognised by law.

合同指的是阐述缔 约各方应履行的义务的约定，其内容已得到法律认可，可强制执行。

2. In common law, there are 3 basic essentials to the creation of a contract: (i) agreement; (ii)

contractual intention; and (iii) consideration.

根据普通法的规定，合同的创建 需要满足三大基本要素：

（

1

）缔约方 约定；

（

2

）订约意图；

（

3

）对价。

3. The first requisite of a contract is that the parties should have reached agreement. Generally

speaking, an agreement is reached when one party makes an offer, which is accepted by another

party. In deciding whether the parties have reached agreement, the courts will apply an objective

test.

合同的第一个必备要素是缔约方已达成约定。

通常而言，

< p>
当一方提出要约而另一方接受该要

约时就视为已达成了约定。为确定缔约方 是否已达成约定，法院会组织一次客观测试。

A. OFFER

要约

4. An offer is an expression of willingness to contract on specified terms, made with the intention

that it is to be binding once accepted by the person to whom it is addressed. 1 There must be an

objective manifestation of intent by the offeror to be bound by the offer if accepted by the other

party.

Therefore,

the

offer

or

will

be

bound

if

his

words

or

conduct

are

such

as

to

induce

a

reasonable third party observer to believe that he intends to be bound, even if in fact he has no

such intention. This was held to be the case where a university made an offer of a place to an

intending student as a result of a clerical error.2

要约表达了达成特定条款的意愿，

且具备这样的意图：

一旦受要约人接受了该要约，

将对 要

约人产生法定约束效力。

1

要约人意 图的客观表现在于，一旦另一方接受该要约，要约人将

受到该要约函的约束。

< p>
因此，

若要约人的言语或行为让理智的第三方旁观者相信其将受到合

同提议的约束，

即便要约人并无此类意图，该要约仍对其有约束效力。

举个例子，

由于笔误

原因，

< p>
某个大学错误地向某个对该校有兴趣的学生提供了一份录取通知书，

此时该 录取通知

书是有法律效力的。

2

5. An offer can be addressed to a single person, to a specified group of persons, or to the world at

large. An example of the latter would be a reward poster for the return of a lost pet.

要约函的对象为单个人士，

或 特定群体人士或社会所有人士，

比如主人张贴悬赏通告以找回

丢 失的宠物时，悬赏要约就是针对社会所有人士的。

6. An offer may be made expressly (by words) or by conduct.

要约可通过口头明确表达出来，或者用行为表达。

7. An offer must be distinguished from an invitation to treat, by which a person does not make an

offer but invites another party to do so. Whether a statement is an offer or an invitation to treat

depends primarily on the intention with which it is made. An invitation to treat is not made with

the intention that it is to be binding as soon as the person to whom it is addressed communicates

his assent to its terms.

要约应与邀约区分开来。

在邀约中，

邀请方并未提供一份具有约束效力的要约而是邀请另一

方这么做 。

要约和邀约的区别主要在于其意图。

邀约并不具备这样的意图 ：

只要接收方同意

邀约中的条款的话，该邀约将对邀请方产生法 定约束效力。

B. ACCEPTANCE

受约

8. An acceptance is a final and unqualified expression of assent to the terms of an offer. Again,

there

must

be

an

objective

manifestation,

by

the

recipient

of

the

offer,

of

an

intention

to

be

bound by its terms. An offer must be accepted in accordance with its precise terms if it is to form

an agreement. It must exactly match the offer and ALL terms must be accepted.

受约指的是受要约人最终完全同意 该要约的所述条款。

因此，

受要约人意图的客观表现在于：

其打算接受相关条款的约束。

要构成约定，

受要约人需要接受要约的具体条款。

必须完全同

意该要约，且必 须接受其所有条款，才能构成约定。

9. An offer may be accepted by conduct (for example, an offer to buy goods can be accepted by

sending them to the offeror).

受要约人可用行动表明其接受要约

（例如，

若打算接受货物采购要约的话，

受 要约人可直接

向要约人发货）

。

10. Acceptance has no legal effect until it is communicated to the offeror (because it could cause

hardship

to

the

offeror

to

be

bound

without

knowing

that

his

offer

had

been

accepted).

The

general

rule

is

that

a

postal

acceptance

takes

effect

when

the

letter

of

acceptance

is

posted5

(even if the letter may be lost, delayed or destroyed6). However, the postal rule will not apply if it

is

excluded

by

the

express

terms

of

the

offer.

An

offer

which

requires

acceptance

to

be

communicated in a specified way can generally be accepted only in that way. If acceptance occurs

via an instantaneous medium such as email, it will take effect at the time and place of receipt.

Note that an offeror cannot stipulate that the offeree's silence amounts to acceptance.

接受要约本身并不 会产生法定效力，

只有当受要约人告知要约人其将接受要约后，

接受要约

才会产生法定约束效力

（原因是：

如果要约人不知道其要约已被接受的话，

将很难受到该要

约 的约束）

。因此，普遍的做法是，当受要约人为接受函贴上邮政邮票时

< br>5

，将视作受要约

人已接受该要约（即使该函件后来遭到 遗失、递送延误或完全被破坏

6

）

。但 是，若要约明

确拒绝采取邮寄方式时，

则该规则不适用。

若要约规定接收函必须以特定方式递送时，

将视

作只有通过该方式递送时接收函才对要约人产生约束效力。

若接收函是通过邮件等即时 通讯

传达的，

其其将在要约人收到邮件的时间和地点生效。

应注意的是，

要约人不得认为受要约

人的沉 默等同于接受提议。

11. A communication fails to take effect as an acceptance where it attempts to vary the terms of

an offer. In such cases it is a counter-offer, which the original offeror can either accept or reject.

For example, where the offeror offers to trade on its standard terms and the offeree purports to

accept,

but

on

its

own

standard

terms,

that

represents

a

counter-offer.

Making

a

counteroffer

amounts to a rejection of the original offer which cannot subsequently be restored or accepted

(unless the parties agree). It is important to distinguish a counter-offer from a mere request for

further information regarding the original offer.

若接受函试图改变要 约的条款，则视作该接收函无法生效。此时称为“反要约”

，最初的要

< br>约人可选择接受或拒绝反要约。

例如，

当要约人提出按照 标准条款交易且受要约人同意按照

标准条款交易，

但遵循的是其 自己的标准条款，

此时应视作反要约。

反要约等同于拒绝原来< /p>

的要约，

这一过程是不可逆的，

除非合同 各方一致同意。

重要的是要学会区分反要约和只要

求提供进一步 信息的请求函。

12. An offer may be revoked at any time before its acceptance, however the revocation must be

communicated

to

the

offeree.

Although

revocation

need

not

be

communicated

by

the

offeror

personally (it can be made by a reliable third party), if it is not communicated, the revocation is

ineffective.

< br>在被受要约人接受之前，

要约人可随时撤回要约，

但应将 撤回消息及时传达给受要约人。

尽