Postal Rule Research Articles

Rule of Communication in Law of Contract: Revisiting Postal Rule under Modern Tools of Communication

The postal rule, which was established in the 19th century, is still relevant in today's digital age, but its applicability has been called into question with the advent of modern forms of communication, such as email, text messaging, and instant messaging. This paper aims to address the issues related to application of rules of communication provided by Law of Contract. The issue regarding different jurisdictions handling the application of the postal rule in the context of electronic communication is also important to understand. It's important for parties involved in contract formation to be aware of the specific laws and regulations that apply to their situation and how they affect the formation and enforceability of contracts.

Acceptance sent through email; is the postal rule applicable?

Purpose – This paper focuses on the application of the postal rule to email, due to the controversy surrounding the application of the “instantaneous” test to emails.
 Methodology/approach/design – This article analyses standards and literature on the formation of contract under English law. 
 Findings – Although the postal rule is an invention of its time, this rule could still play a role regarding emails. Indeed, due to the difficulties in applying the “instantaneous” test to emails, emails would still be subject to the postal rule. Of course, the postal rule in its current form is no more fitting the reality. However, the benefits that such rule provides should not be lost, instead a new rule could be drafted based on the postal rule.
 Practical implications – This article discusses the possible improvements to the already existing framework.
 Originality/value – This paper analyses the use of the postal rule to electronic contracts in the UK, a topic that is not much researched but could have great importance when doing electronic business.

Postal rule in acceptance via email

The fact that the digital world has conquered almost all aspects of life drives contracting parties to adopt a more expedient means of communication in their formation of a contract, which was traditionally executed in the paper form. Consequently, communication in most of contractual transactions nowadays is generally no longer made on paper but shifts to paperless documents through technological devices such as email and other electronic forms. This article focuses on the issue of the application of a traditional postal rule in acceptance through post in a contemporary acceptance via email. In dealing with this issue, the approaches adopted by jurisdictions such as Singapore, Australia, as well as Malaysia are examined. The findings have established that at present, there is no definite answer due to the inadequacies of existing legal frameworks and provisions, amplified by the lack of judicial interpretations to provide clear resolution. Although in certain countries, the approaches are comparatively well defined, uncertainties remain and the clear way towards resolution appears to be far from defined.

Going Postal: An Examination of the Postal Rule and its Modern-Day Relevance

This undergraduate dissertation contains a critical examination of the postal acceptance rule, featuring an analysis of the historical background to the and the validity of the main justifications behind it. It considers the in a modern context in relation to other methods of communication, such as email, telex and fax and scrutinises carefully the difference between communication and transmission. Comparison is undertaken of the effect of the in various international jurisdictions.It features an evaluation of the merits of the postal rule's continued existence in the U.K. and other jurisdictions. The dissertation proposes that either the status quo should be preserved, or that existing law should be amended to effect a transmission rule - that if the offeree reasonably believes his acceptance has been effectively transmitted to within the offeror's sphere of influence then he has done all he can to communicate his acceptance, and thus a valid contract has been formed.

Comparison and the Development of Cognition and Language

reasoning lies through the career of similarity. There is evidence for effects of specific content in deductive reasoning . large number of studies based on Wason's (1968) classic selection task have shown that while normal subjects typically fail in the application of conditional inference rules to abstract and unfamiliar material (in particular, they fail to apply Modus Tollens), their performance can be greatly improved if concrete and far 11 miliar material is used . In the selection task, subjects see four cardse.g., A, C, 17 &'4, and 3and are told to turn over the necessary cards to test the following rule : If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side. Only a small number (about 10%) choose the correct two cards (A and 3) ; the majority choose cards A and 4, suggesting that the participants, rather than following a rule of inference to test the conditional statement, were simply basing their choice on surface matches between the rule as stated and the cards (i .e., choosing the card that matched the antecedent (the vowel) and the card that matched the consequent (the even number) . However, it appears that performance is considerably better when the ,rule is stated in terms of a familiar domain in which the contingencies are accessible to the subjects . Wason & Shapiro (1971) used a thematic rule instead of an abstract conditional rule (Every time I go to Manchester I travel by car) and a set of cards representing various destinations and modes of transport . They obtained 62% correct selection . Griggs & Cox (1982) found substantial improvement by using a familiar rule such as If a person is drinking beer, then the person must be over 19. Johnson-Laird, Legrenzi and Legrenzi s) (1972) found improvement (to 81% correct) using a familiar postal rule (If a letter is sealed, then it has a 50 lire stamp on it) and a set of envelopes (sealed and unsealed, with a 50 lire or a 40 lire stamp) . When the rule concerned an arbitrary relation between symbols, instead of a realistic relation between concrete objects, the subjects relapsed to the

Developments in electronic contract laws: A Malaysian perspective

Electronic commerce is expanding at an ever-increasing rate on the Internet. To facilitate e-commerce uniform electronic contract laws have been proposed for nation states by UNCITRAL, known as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce. Following this Model Law many countries have enacted electronic contract laws. However, it seems that Malaysia is moving very slowly to update its existing contract laws. The Contracts Act 1950 (Malaysia) is an old statute which provides the postal rule to govern the formation of a contact. It is silent about the emerging new issues on e-contracts. However, the Digital Signature Act 1997 (Malaysia) promotes e-commerce and e-contracts in Malaysia by legalising the use of digital signature technology. This article discusses and analyses e-contract laws in Malaysia based on Contracts Act 1950 and Digital Signature Act 1997. It concludes with recommendations as to how Malaysian law could be amended to conform more closely to international developments in this area.

Acceptance of Offers by E-Mail - How Far Should the Postal Acceptance Rule Extend?

Since the inception of the postal acceptance rule in 1818, numerous alternative methods of communication have been developed, including the telephone, telex, telegraph, facsimile and e-mail. This article examines whether the postal acceptance rule will be applied to acceptances communicated by e-mail. In resolving this issue the authors consider how an e-mail is transmitted, the ambit of the postal acceptance rule and its underlying policy considerations and how the Courts have resolved this issue in relation to other modern forms of communication.

Posting the law: Social contracts and the postal rule's grammatology

Posting the law: Social contracts and the postal rule's grammatology

Minor Notices

Previous articleNext article FreeCurrent LiteratureMinor NoticesPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 38, Number 4Oct., 1904 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/328555 Views: 70Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in the Botanical Gazette (1876-1991), which is continued by International Journal of Plant Sciences (1992-present). PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Peter J. Stevenson Going Postal: An Examination of the Postal Rule and its Modern-Day Relevance, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2010).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1603488