scottish law - email binding?

scottish law - email binding?

Vane Hosk	3/17/2004 12:20:55 PM
Someone has written me an email saying they will buy something off me (it's an intangible, not a physical item they're buying). They are now stalling and trying to get out of buying the item. How binding is an email stating they will buy the item under Scottish/UK law? The money involved here is 500 UKP btw. thanks v



david@keates338.freeserve.co.uk (David Keates, LLB)	3/17/2004 11:15:51 AM
Vane Hosk <vane@hooooooosk.noooope> wrote in message news:<105ggl84eiagve5@corp.supernews.com>... Someone has written me an email saying they will buy something off me (it's an intangible, not a physical item they're buying). They are now stalling and trying to get out of buying the item. How binding is an email stating they will buy the item under Scottish/UK law? The money involved here is 500 UKP btw. thanks v Sounds like a binding contract to me.



horrigan@aol.com (Horrigan)	3/17/2004 8:38:22 PM
Sounds like a binding contract to me. Binding or not, if the other party wants to break the contract, it's pretty hard to prevent them from doing so. The amount of money is fairly small (though, myself, I could sure use an extra nine hundred bucks or so right about now!) so it may not be cost effective to take them to court. Good luck! *** Tim Horrigan <horrigan@aol.com> ***



cj.green@worldnet.att.net (Christopher Green)	3/17/2004 1:18:08 PM
Vane Hosk <vane@hooooooosk.noooope> wrote in message news:<105ggl84eiagve5@corp.supernews.com>... Someone has written me an email saying they will buy something off me (it's an intangible, not a physical item they're buying). They are now stalling and trying to get out of buying the item. How binding is an email stating they will buy the item under Scottish/UK law? The money involved here is 500 UKP btw. thanks v This is an area where the Statute of Frauds doesn't quite apply: Scotland has never fully adopted the Statute of Frauds, so some purported agreements that would be non-binding under the Statute of Frauds in England may be binding in Scotland. See http://www.icclaw.com/devs/uk/sl/uksl_005.htm for one discussion. My entirely uneducated guess is that it would come down to the value of the email as evidence that your buyer actually agreed to buy the item. If you have a trail of correspondence, it might look more convincing than a single isolated email. -- Not a lawyer, Chris Green



"Lorenzo"	3/17/2004 9:50:45 PM
It is binding if your emails prove that you reached agreement. Even a verbal contract can be binding (but difficult to prove). Your description of what happened does not indicate that agreement was reached. For that you need an offer by one party and an acceptance by the other. If someone emailed you saying they would buy something from you, this is only likely to be binding if you emailed back to accept their offer. They weren't offering to buy your soul for 500 were they?? "Vane Hosk" <vane@hooooooosk.noooope> wrote in message news:105ggl84eiagve5@corp.supernews.com... Someone has written me an email saying they will buy something off me (it's an intangible, not a physical item they're buying). They are now stalling and trying to get out of buying the item. How binding is an email stating they will buy the item under Scottish/UK law? The money involved here is 500 UKP btw. thanks v



"W. Stephen Lush"	3/22/2004 1:38:23 PM
Uh well regarding intangibles... it has to have some worth or value to the person buying. Maybe if you were clearer then we wouldn't think you're a git wacko. you're welcome "Vane Hosk" <vane@hooooooosk.noooope> wrote in message news:105ggl84eiagve5@corp.supernews.com... Someone has written me an email saying they will buy something off me (it's an intangible, not a physical item they're buying). They are now stalling and trying to get out of buying the item. How binding is an email stating they will buy the item under Scottish/UK law? The money involved here is 500 UKP btw. thanks v

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