Also known as: pollicitations · offer · proposal
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An unaccepted offer of a promise in contract formation. It remains a mere proposal until the offeree manifests assent, at which point it ripens into a binding promise.
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Portia Price sent Pavel Petrov a detailed letter proposing to sell her warehouse for $2 million, specifying payment terms and a closing date. Pavel never responded or performed any act accepting the proposal. The unaccepted letter stood only as a pollicitation that created no contractual obligation between the parties.
Phoenix Technologies' articles of incorporation eliminated the duty to offer business opportunities to the board. Penelope Price, a director, received a third-party proposal to acquire a software license. Because the articles removed any obligation, the incoming proposal remained a pollicitation that the corporation had no duty to accept or pursue.
Premier Manufacturing's lawyer received an email from Pierre Poulin offering to supply false invoices in exchange for a fee. The lawyer immediately declined and documented the refusal. The email constituted a pollicitation that the lawyer properly rejected rather than pursuing further.
Pilar Pena mailed Prosperity Investments a signed writing offering to buy 500 shares at a stated price if the company performed by delivering the certificates within ten days. Prosperity began preparing the certificates but had not yet tendered them. The writing remained a pollicitation until at least part of the requested performance occurred.
Priya Prasad's counsel listed an unsigned purchase agreement as an exhibit that might be offered if needed. The document was merely a pollicitation from the seller and had never been accepted, so counsel correctly designated it as a potential rather than expected item.
After the government rested, the defense moved for acquittal on a charge that the defendant had accepted an alleged bribe. The only evidence was an unaccepted email from the defendant proposing a payment schedule. That email was a pollicitation, leaving the evidence insufficient to sustain a conviction.
A pollicitation is an unaccepted offer of a promise. Only when the offeree manifests assent does the proposal become a promise that can form the basis of a contract.
Supporting sources
No. Because the offer has not been accepted, a pollicitation imposes no contractual duty on either party until acceptance occurs.
Supporting sources
A signed writing that constitutes a pollicitation may later serve as a memorandum if the offeree accepts, but the writing alone does not satisfy the statute until acceptance creates an enforceable contract.
Supporting sources
…building would have been 55 stories high and would have occupied the air space above the terminal. The Commission rejected the proposal, finding that the construction of the building would destroy the terminal's historic and aesthetic features. Appellants then modified the proposal to provide for a smaller building. The…