Hobbs
sent some eel skins to Massasoit.Massasoit kept them without saying anything or paying for them and
they were destroyed.
Massasoit
made eel skin whips that were used for flogging sailors!
Hobbes
sued for the price of the skins.
Trial
Court found for Hobbs.Massasoit appealed, claiming that it was incorrect to instruct the
jury that silence could be construed as acceptance, such that the Hobbs
could win the suit.
Massasoit
argued that this ruling would allow strangers to send unsolicited
goods to a company.This would establish an unwanted
liability on the company as well as a burden to return the goods.
The
Appellate Court affirmed.
The
Court found that a course of previous dealing between the parties can
create the expectation with the offeror that the silence of the offeree
implies acceptance.
The
standing order established by
previous relations showed that Hobbs was not a stranger, and he was not
sending unsolicited goods.
Under
the circumstances, sending the eel skins and not hearing anything back
from Massasoit created the reasonable expectation that they had been
accepted.This defendant was
in the business of buying eel skins and did so regularly.The plaintiff and defendant both
knew this, so it was reasonable for the defendant to either speak up or
accept the skins by default.
The
Court found that contract formation is based on objective mutual assent,
which is to say that any conduct that "looks like, smells like,
quacks like" an acceptance is
an acceptance in the eyes
of the law.
Even
if Massasoit had an intent to return the goods, and they really didn't
want them, it doesn't matter under the objective theory of contract formation.
