RE: Andy
The issue is about Andy, who had placed an advertisement on Monday in a local newspaper, the East Anglia Mail, offering a reward of £5,000 for finding his lost dog, Cassey, liable to:(i)Bolam, who saw the advertisement on Wednesday, and bought special equipment costing $500, which he intended to use it to find the dog;(ii)Stan, a shepherd, who found the dog attacking the sheep on Tuesday then he captured the dog, and on Friday, he brought it to the town of Oldcastle, where he was told about the reward;(iii)Stan, if he was the younger brother of Andy, and (iv)Cassey dies before it return to Andy.
Generally, advertisements in newspaper or where else that advertisers has goods for sale are not an offers: Partridge v Crittenden [1968] 1 WLR 1204. In the case, the defendant advertised bramblefinch cocks and hens for sales with stated price, 25s each. He was charged with offering wild birds for sale contrary to the Protection of Birds Act 1954. The court held that, he did not commit the offence against Protection of Bird Act 1954 because the advertisement was merely an invitation to treat, not offered the birds for sale.
The Court of Appeal (Bowen LJ) said, “How are we to find out whether the person who makes the offer does intimate that notification of acceptance will not be necessary in order to constitute a binding bargain? … It seems to me that from the point of view of common sense no other idea could be entertained. If I advertise to the world that my dog is lost, and that anybody who bring the dog to a particular place will be paid some money, are all the police or other persons whose business it is to find lost dogs to be expected to sit down and write me a note saying that they have accepted my proposal? Why, of course, they at once look after the dog, and as soon as they find the dog they have performed the condition. The essence of the transaction is that the dog should be found, and it is not necessary under such circumstances, as it seems...