Angela is a 30-year-old student who was struggling to complete her Ph.D. when her old laptop computer finally broke down: Contract Law Assignment, TCD, Ireland

Angela is a 30-year-old student who was struggling to complete her Ph.D. when her old laptop computer finally broke down. Although she managed to recover all her data, she urgently needed to buy a replacement. On her way to the local PC Superstore, she saw an advertisement for a used laptop being sold by Carl on the University noticeboard.

She called his number and arranged to visit his apartment right then. When she arrived, Carl showed her his old laptop and he said he would sell it to her for €200. Angela was tempted but wanted to see how much a new laptop would cost at the PC Superstore. Carl was eager to sell so he wrote out the following on a piece of paper. “I will sell you the used laptop I have for €200, let me know by the end of the week if you do not want it.” When Angela arrived at the PC Superstore she saw a big poster for brand new laptops for €550.

She was interested. When she spoke to the owner of the store, he told her that he still had one less expensive, new laptop in stock for €300. Angela told him that she did not have the cash on her but would return early the next day to buy it. The owner said, “That’s fine, I will hold it aside for you.” The next morning, Angela returned to the PC Superstore and went directly to the owner showing him the €300 cash.

The owner told her that another of his customers had come to the shop urgently looking for a laptop and he sold it to him. However, he reminded Angela he still had the other laptops for €550. Angela was devastated but he pointed to the poster which stated “Limited quantities available: First come, first served.” Angela telephoned Carl and when he answered before he could say a word she said, “I will take the laptop as we agreed yesterday.” Carl was silent: he had sold the laptop the previous evening when Dean had offered him €300.

Angela is so stressed to finish her Ph.D., she decides to look online for the services of anyone who would write the last section of her work. She finds a business called the “Essay Mill”. She contacts them online and outlines her request. Two weeks later, she received a document from Essay Mill which she promptly includes and submits to the College in her Ph.D. Of course, she is soon discovered by the College after the detailed checks it carries out and she is now facing very serious penalties and damage to her reputation, including expulsion.

When the College invites her to a formal academic hearing under the Academic Misconduct Procedure, Angela claims this procedure does not apply to her as she never saw anything about this before in her emails from the College and she did not fully read the terms and conditions sent to her when she was registering.

However, when the College checks this, they discover that she did, indeed, tick the box on the College website when she was registering to confirm she had read and accepted the terms and conditions of the College. Using relevant case law and academic commentary relating to the general principles of offer and acceptance only, advise Angela as to the prospects of success of any claim she may wish to make in Contract Law based on the above facts.