The facts of this case are as follows Dennis is a twelve year old, whose custom and practice is to trim the hedges of all neighbors" bushes on his block. Mr. Wilson, his next-door neighbor, saw Dennis walking home and asked, "If you trim the hedges in my yard I will pay you $10.00". Dennis then smiled and continued walking home. The next day Dennis trimmed the hedges, knocked on Mr. Wilson's door for his payment and Mr. Wilson refused to pay, reasoning that the contract was not valid. What I believe to be the legal issues here are simply whether the contract is valid. To find this out I think we need to look at the offer and acceptance of a valid contract. The issue present in this case is if the offer is still valid the next day as well as if by smiling and walking away, then returning the next day and completing his work is considered to be enough for an acceptance to Mr. Wilson's offer.
Mr. Wilson reasoning that the contract is invalid presents the main issue. A valid contract is a binding and enforceable agreement which meets the entire necessary contractual requirement. The contract in question I believe would be a unilateral contract, where one party makes a promise in exchange for another person performing an act. In order to establish an enforceable contract there must be an agreement between two competent parties, based on genuine assent of the parties supported by consideration that does not contravene principles of law and that must be in writing in certain circumstances. The component of a valid contract we need to look at in this case is the agreement. An agreement is usually reached by one party making an offer and the other expressly or impliedly accepting the terms of the offer. In this case we need to see if the offer is still valid the next day and if Dennis smiling and walking away can be considered acceptance of the offer. I can only assume that Mr. Wilson believes that by smiling and walking away and not saying anything, Dennis never accepted his offer.
