Sec 16a

What has just been said applies to subscriptions to joint enterprises.7 "Whether such subscriptions bind, as having sufficient consideration, will be hereafter considered.8 At present we have to notice that until they are accepted they are merely inchoate, and have no binding; force.9

Sec 17

Where the proposal is conditioned on notice of acceptance being communicated, or when anything is to be done by the proposer in order to make an acceptance operative, the fact of the acceptance must be communicated to the proposer.10 Thus, where a party applies for shares in a company, and these shares are allotted to him, he is not bound until notice is communicated to him of the allotment, his proposal being conditioned on communication of acceptance.1 Registration, in such case, of the applicant is not enough ; nor is it enough to send notice of the allotment to a local agent of the company through whom the application had been received.2 An acceptance of an offer of guarantee, also, must be communicated to the guarantor, in order to bind him.3 But a party, by acting on the fact of acceptance, may waive formal proof of notice of acceptance having been communicated to him.4 Nor need the notice be express. It may be implied from the conduct of the parties.5 -An agent specially appointed by the receiver to deliver his acceptance to the proposer, is regarded as the mere extension of his employer; and as long as the acceptance remains in the agent's hands, it is supposed to remain in the principal's hands. Hence there is no contract in such a case until the acceptance is delivered to the proposer.6 On the other hand, notice of acceptance is not necessary in cases where the proposal is conditioned on certain things to be done by the acceptor, and the doing of these things is made known to the proposer. In other words, where certain things are to be done by the promisee on condition of promisor's promise being performed, the promisor becomes liable on his promise on the promisee's performance of the condition.7 But wherever the proposal requires a counter-offer on the part of the promisee, and not the mere performance of a condition, then the counteroffer must be communicated to the proposer. It follows that, when a promise is a consideration for a promise, then the parties must reciprocally accept each other's promises, and in order to accept, the promises must be reciprocally communicated.8

So of subscriptions to joint enterprises.

Acceptance must be communicated when required.

1 Pollock, 3d ed. 37.

2 Hilton v;. Southwick, 17 Me. 305 ; Morse v. Bellows, 7 N. H. 563 ; Sturgis v. Robbins, 7 Mass. 301; Worrell v. Pres. Ch., 8 C. E. Green, 96 ; see 1 Ch. on Con. 10th Am. ed. 29 ; infra, sec 505.

3 Great N. R. R. v. Witham, L. R. 9 C. P. 16 ; Barnes v. Perrine, 9 Barb. 205 ; Willetts v. Ins. Co., 45 N. Y. 45, and cases cited, infra, sec 524, 589. As to conditional acceptance, see further Gray v. James, 128 Mass. 110.

4 Infra, sec 545 et seq.

5 Demuth v. Institute, 75 N. Y. 502.

6 Infra, sec 528.

7 See infra, sec 528, 595.

8 Infra, sec 528.

9 Ives v. Sterling, 6 Met. 310 ; Ayer's App., 28 Penn. St. 179; Commis. v. Perry, 5 Ohio, 58 ; Stuart v. R. R., 32 Grat. 146.

10 Leake, 2d ed. 34. See Lang. Cas. on Cont. 993.

1 Ibid.; Pellatt's case, L. R. 2 Ch. 527; Gunn's case, L. R. 3 Ch. 40; Sahlgreen's case, L. R. 3 Ch. 323; Robinson's case, L. R. 4 Ch. 322; Ward's case, L. R. 10 Eq. 659.

2 Ibid. ; Hobb's case, L. R. 4 Eq. 9.

3 Leake, ut supra; Mosley v. Tinkler, 1 C. M. & R. 692; Mclver v. Richardson, 1 M. & S. 557; infra, sec 570.

4 Richards v. Assurance Asso., L. R.

6 C. P. 591; Levita's case, L. R. 3 Ch. 36; Crawley's case, L. R. 4 Ch. 322. As to notice see fully infra, sec 567 et seq.; as to waiver, infra, sec 604.

5 Richards v. Assurance Asso., L. R. 6 C. P. 591; infra, sec 602 et seq.

6 Thayer v. Ins. Co., 10 Pick. 326. See Bryant v. Booze, 55 Ga. 438.

7 See infra, sec 24, 545 et seq.

8 See infra, sec 523; Lang. Sum. sec 13.