Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Delivery by mail

Civil Code sections 1549 - 1701 deal with contracts generally. Note that section 1582 restates the common-law rule that an acceptance of an offer must be made in the way prescribed in the offer, but if the offer does not specify how it is to be accepted, any reasonableand usual mode of communication may be employed to accept the offer.

If the transaction involves sale of goods, the provisions of the Commercial Code will apply as well. See Commercial Code sections 2201 - 2208, especially 2206(1)(a).

In contract law there is a "mail box rule" which says in effect that if the offer invites or allows acceptance by mail, the acceptance is effective upon the offeree's deposit of the acceptance in the mails. The mail box rule would not apply if the offer expressly or impliedly required some other method of acceptance.

The mail box rule doesn't apply to situations outside acceptance of offers. For example, exercise of an option or giving of a required notice requires actual delivery unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise.

The above are general rules and exceptions exist, often based upon the customs of a particular trade or industry.

Re: Delivery by mail

Evidence Code Section 641: "A letter correctly addressed

and properly mailed is presumed to have been received in the ordinary

course of mail."

This is a rebuttable presumption.