Legal Question in Business Law in China

On 1st March 2009 Aoran saw the nice cakes at a special price at Wing�s Caf�. He went in and discussed with the shop owner, Mrs. Janet, that he was interested to buy the cake but he would like to think it for a few days.

On 6th March 2009, Aoran received a letter and brochure from Mrs Janet that she as willing to sell that cakes at a very cheap price. Aoran immediately posted a letter on the same day (6th March 2009). Mrs. Janet only received the letter of acceptance on 10th March 2009.

However on 9th March 200, Aoran received a fax from Mrs Janet revoking her offer to sell the cakes to him.

Mrs Janet wants to transfer the ownership of Wing�s Caf� to her daughter, Alice, for her 21st birthday. As Alice will not be paying any money to her mother, her mother is worried that since there is no consideration for the transfer of her caf� to Alice, the transfer may be void by virtue of Section 26.

One evening, Mr.s Janet�s Poodle (dog) �Twinkle� went missing in the neighbourhood. Mrs. Janet was very stressed out with the whole situation and she went to hang some posters around the neighbourhood that stated �Missing Poodle �Twinkle�..a reward of RM500 would be given to whoever manages to bring it back to me.�

Her neighbour�s son, Brian saw the advertisement and he went looking for twinkle However, when Brian found Twinkle, he had a tough time to persuade Twinkle to follow him. He ended up having a few stretches on his face and neck.

When Brian handed Twinkle back to Mrs. Janet, she informed him that she did not have RM500 but she was willing to give out RM100.Brian was very furious and he went over to your house (he has knowledge that you are studying Business Law at LUCT) to seek legal advice.

Question.

a)Aoran is seeking for your advice whether there exists any contract Aoran and Miss Janet.

b)Advice Mrs. Janet whether she can transfer Wing�s Caf� to her daughter.

c)Advice Brian relating to his rights and whether there is any contract exist between him and Mrs. Janet.

d)Would your answer differ if Brian does not have any knowledge about the advertisement?


Asked on 10/15/09, 5:48 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Freda Liu

Under PRC law and practice:

Answers:

a) Yes, Aoran had concluded the contract with Mrs Janet. Mrs. Janet's withdrawal didn't become effective becasue the offer could be void only in two way：1) be withdrew before arriving to Aoran; or 2) be revoked before Aoran's acceptance. In this case, the offer had arrived to Aoran and Aoran had made his acceptance, so Mrs. Janet had lost her chance to change her mind, the contract had existed.

b) Under Chinese law, no restriction on the donation of the store, they can only go through relative registration so that Alice could get the store.

c) Brian is entitled to the RMB 500, because since Mrs. Janet's posters included specific key points, such as the object, the amount of payment, so her poster actually constituted an offer, and Brian accepted the offer by his act and meanwhile he also performed what the offer demanded, so he had fulfilled the contract. Therefore, Mrs. Janet was also obligated to pay the remuneration.

d) If Brian does not have any knowledge about the advertisement, there was not any contract existing, his return of the dog could be deemed as voluntary service, and he could cliam for proper compensation from Mrs. Janet, such as the cost for cure the injure.

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Answered on 10/15/09, 9:58 pm


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