Under the Mailbox Rule There Is a Period of Time

question 70

Essay

Under the mailbox rule there is a period of time when the offeror may be in a contract and not be aware of it.If the rule were changed such that acceptances were effective upon receipt,would this eliminate the problem of someone being in a contract without being aware of it? Is there any rule or set of rules that will eliminate the problem of one party or the other having a period of uncertainty,if all correspondence is conducted through the mail? If either the offeree or offeror must go through a period of uncertainty,which should it be? Why? What can the offeror do to avoid this uncertainty? Is the mailbox becoming more important or less important?

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Definitions:

Command Systems

Economic systems where the government controls key sectors of the economy, determining what goods are produced, their prices, and distribution.

Invisible Hand

A term coined by Adam Smith to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace, where individuals' pursuit of self-interest leads to the benefit of society at large.

Adam Smith

An 18th-century Scottish economist known as the father of modern economics, best remembered for his theory of the invisible hand.