Exercises on the text.

Task 1. Read the text and translate it into Russian.

offer to all the world. An offer, by way of advertisement, of a reward for the rendering of specified services, addressed to the public at large. · As soon as someone renders the services, a contract is made.

public-exchange offer. A takeover attempt in which the bidder corporation offers to exchange some of its securities for a specified number of the target corporation’s voting shares.

5. undertaking, n. 1. A promise, pledge, or engagement. 2. A bail bond.

6. tender, n. 1. An unconditional offer of money or performance to satisfy a debt or obligation < a tender of delivery>. · The tender may save the tendering party from a penalty for nonpayment or nonperformance or may, if the other party unjustifiably refuses the tender, place the other party in default. 2. Something unconditionally offered to satisfy a debt or obligation. 3. Contracts. Attempted performance that is frustrated by the act of the party for whose benefit it is to take place. · The performance may take the form of either a tender of goods or a tender of payment. Although this sense is quite similar to sense 1, it differs in making the other party’s refusal part of the definition itself. 4. An offer or bid put forward for acceptance < a tender for the construction contract>. 5. Something that serves as a means of payment, such as coin, banknotes, or other circulating medium; money < legal tender>. – tender, vb.

tender of delivery. A seller’s putting and holding confirming goods at the buyer’s disposition and giving the buyer any notification reasonably necessary to take delivery. · The manner, time, and place for tender are determined by the agreement and by Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

7. apply, vb. 1. To make a formal request or motion < apply for injunctive relief>. 2. To employ for a limited purpose < Apply the payments to a reduction in interest>. 3. To put to use with a particular subject matter < apply the law to the facts> < apply the law only to transactions in interstate commerce>.

8. reasonable person. 1. A hypothetical person used as a legal standard, esp. to determine whether someone acted with negligence. · The reasonable person acts sensibly, does things without serious delay, and takes proper but not excessive precautions. – Also termed reasonable man; prudent person; ordinarily prudent person. 2. Archaic. A human being.

9. duration, n. 1. The length of time something lasts < the duration of the lawsuit>. 2. A length of time; a continuance in time < an hour’s duration>.

10. revocation, n. 1. An annulment, cancellation, or reversal, usu. of an actor power. 2. Contracts. Withdrawal of an offer by the offeror. 3. Wills & estates. Invalidation of a will by the testator, either by destroying the will or by executing a new one. – revoke, vb.

11. option, n. 1. The right or power to choose; something that may be chosen. 2. A contract made to keep an offer open for a specified period, so that the offeror cannot revoke the offer during that period. – Also termed option contract. 3. The right conveyed by such a contract. 4. The right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell a given quantity of securities, commodities, or other assets at a fixed price within a specified time < trading stock options is a speculative business>.

12. source, n. The originator or primary agent of an act, circumstance, or result.

13. limit, n. 1. A restriction or restraint. 2. A boundary or defining line. 3. Theextent of power, right, or authority. – limit, vb. – limited, adj.

14. lapse, n. 1. The termination of a right or privilege because of a failure to exercise it within some time limit or because a contingency has occurred or not occurred. 2. Wills & estates. The failure of testamentary gift, esp. when the beneficiary dies before the testator dies.

15. lapse, vb. 1. (Of an estate or right) to pass away or revert to someone else because conditions have not been fulfilled or because a person entitled to possession has failed in some duty. 2. (Of a devise, grant, etc.) to become void.

16. purport, n. The idea or meaning that is conveyed or expressed, esp. by a formal document.

17. purport, vb. To profess or claim falsely; to seem to be.

18. counteroffer, n. Contracts. An offeree’s new offer that varies the terms of the original offer and that therefore rejects the original offer. – counteroffer, vb. – counterofferor, n.

19. rejection, n. 1. A refusal to accept a contractual offer. 2. A refusal to accept tendered goods as contractual performance. · Under the UCC, a buyer’s rejection of nonperforming goods must be made within a reasonable time after tender or delivery, and notice of the rejection must be given to the seller. – reject, vb.

20. condition, n. 1. A future and uncertain event on which the existence or extent of an obligation or liability depends; an uncertain act or event that triggers or negates a duty to render a promised performance. · For example, if Jones promises to pay Smith $500 for repairing a car, Smith’s failure to repair the car (a condition) relieves Jones of the promise to pay. 2. A stipulation or prerequisite in a contract, will, or other instrument, constituting the essence of the instrument. · If a court construes a contractual term to be a condition, then its untruth or breach will entitle the party to whom it is made to be discharged from all liabilities under the contract. 3. Loosely, a term, provision, or clause in a contract.

express condition. A condition that is explicitly stated in an instrument; esp., a contractual condition that the parties have reduced to writing.

implied condition. A condition that is not expressly mentioned, but is imputed by law from the nature of the transaction or the conduct of the parties to have been tacitly understood between them as a part of the agreement.

21. cease, vb. 1. To stop, forfeit, suspend, or bring to an end. 2. To become extinct; to pass away. – cessation, n.

Notes.

reject. In contract law, this is the verb ordinarily used to describe what an offeree does in turning down an offer, or a buyer in refusing tendered goods.

repudiation; rescission. Repudiation = contracting party’s words or actions that indicate an intention not to perform the contract in the future. Rescission = a party’s unilateral unmaking of a contract for a legally sufficient re reason, such as the other party’s material breach.

Though the definitions suggest precise meanings for these terms, they are frequently confused. The main problem is that repudiation is a common-law term, whereas rescission is an equitable one. Thus, as P.S. Atiyah points out, “most books on the law of Contracts discuss the right to repudiate the contract for breach of condition in a section on Remedies, while they treat of the right to rescind a contract in the section on Misrepresentation. Indeed, so different are repudiation and rescission believed to be, that serious confusion is caused in the law of sale of goods by the fact that the Sale of Goods Act regulates the former but not the latter.” To compound the trouble, lawyers indiscriminately use repudiation for both a rightful and wrongful termination.

revoke; retract. These two words are nearly synonyms. Revoke = to annul by taking back; retract = to withdraw or disavow. In the idiom of contract law, an offer is revoked, while an anticipatory repudiation of a contract is retracted.

Task 3. Answer the following questions.