Contract Law. Does the postal rule apply to email? (PDF)

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2015 in the subject Law - Civil / Private, Trade, Anti Trust Law, Business Law, grade: 1,0, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück (Fakultät Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften), course: Contract Law, language: English, abstract: "What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling twice as fast as stagecoaches? Just as well, people could fire themselves with a firework."

In the early 19th century people believed the technological progress has arrived its maximum, but their predictions were wrong. Locomotives became high-speed trains and the stagecoaches disappeared from the post system. The post, which used to take several weeks, arrives after a few days and modern communication systems like fax, telephone and email were established. Yet the contract laws of this times and a rule such as the postal rule are still legally binding and therefore the modern systems and especially email have to be integrated into the legal system.

The purpose of this term paper is to critically discuss the arguments for and against the question, does the postal rule apply to email?

In the first chapter the general formation of a contract is noted as well as the history and application of the postal rule are explained. Accordingly in the second chapter the process of communication by email is described and the different arguments for and against the main question are critically discussed. Finally the conclusion of the term paper is collectively assessed.

Because there exist modern communication systems like fax, telephone and email, the connection between the postal rule and these modern communication systems is frequently discussed in many scientific publications. The textbooks from Mindy Chen-Wishart (2012), Contract Law, and Richard Stone (2008), The modern Law of Contract, give a good overview of the topic. For the discussion i.a. the articles from Valerie Watnick (2004), The Electronic Formation of Contracts and the Common Law "Mailbox Rule", and Sharon Christensen (2001), Formation of Contracts by Email - Is it Just the Same as the Post?, are significant.