Dickinson vs. Dodds - Case Brief

CASE BRIEFING FORM Dickinson v. Dodds Case Caption/Citation AT/P’s name: Dickinson Date of Case: 1876 AE’s/D’s name: Dodds Name of Court: Court of Appeal Chancery Division Citation: 2. Ch. Div. 463 (1876) Parties’ Identities/Description (How do identities frame/inform the controversy?) AT/P: Dickinson, buyer AE/D: Dodds, seller Procedural History (What has happened in the courts up to this point?) Trial court (Vice Chancellor Bacon) declared Allan had no interest in the property and entered a decree of specific performance in favor of Dickinson. Dodds and Allan appealed. Key Facts (Short narrative of determinative facts and necessary contextual details.) On June 10, John Dodds signed and delivered a note to the plaintiff, George Dickinson, which said “I hereby agree to sell to Mr. George Dickinson the whole of dwelling houses..for the sum of 800” which included the provision of “This offer is to be left open until Friday, 9’o clock, A.M. J.D. (the twelth), 12th June 1874.” Dickinson gave his acceptance of the offer to Dodds before 9 am on Friday, but before that Dickinson had already sold the property to Alan. Issue(s) (Define the question(s)/dispute(s) before the court.) By agreeing to sell a property and leaving the offer open until a later date for the buyer to accept without a value being exchanged, did the seller breach contract when the buyer knew he had already sold the property to someone else and tried to accept knowing this? Summary of the Arguments (only essential points of each party’s argument.) Dickinson -Dodds should be ordered to specifically perform the contract -He should be restrained from selling the property to Allan -Dickinson should get the property Rule (What rule, definition or standard does this case stand for in that the court used it to solve the parties’ dispute?) There doesn’t need to be express and actual withdrawal of the offer for a person to legally revoke an offer. There must be an item of value exchanged to hold the offer open in the way that the offeror can’t go and make other offers. Holding(s) (What is the court’s answer on the issue?) That Dodds did not breach contract because there was only an offer- there was no consideration so Dodds so he maintained the right to revoke his offer. Court’s Reasoning (Summarize the court’s thinking, including not only the steps of court’s logic, but also the public policies the court intended to advance.) Plaintiff said he required time to consider whether he would enter the agreement or not; so either way, both parties did not agree to the contract, so no acceptance. There was no consideration to keep the property unsold until 9 am on Friday. Plaintiff knew that Dodds was no longer going to sell him the property purely by the fact that Dodds’ silence. It can’t be possible for the offeree to have known that the offeror sold it to someone else and accept the offer and then hold the offeror to the contract because there wasn’t “meeting of the minds” because he knew the offeror did not intent to sell him the property. Judgment or Order (What did court do as a result of its holding?) Reversed. Comments/Reflection (Did the court write any instructive dicta? Do you have questions or concerns about the decision? How does opinion relate to others?)