<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Generally, advertisements are not offers but invitations to treat, so the person advertising is not compelled to sell . In Partridge v Crittenden (1968) 1 WLR 1204, a defendant who was charged with "offering for sale protected birds"--bramblefinch cocks and hens that he had advertised for sale in a newspaper--was not offering to sell them . Lord Parker CJ said it did not make business sense for advertisements to be offers, as the person making the advertisement may find himself in a situation where he would be contractually obliged to sell more goods than he actually owned . </P> <P> In certain circumstances called unilateral contracts, an advertisement can be an offer; as in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1893) 1 QB 256, where it was held that the defendants, who advertised that they would pay £ 100 to anyone who sniffed a smoke ball in the prescribed manner and yet caught influenza, were contractually obliged to pay £ 100 to whomever accepted it by performing the required acts . </P> <P> A display of goods for sale in a shop window or within a shop is an invitation to treat, as in the Boots case, a leading case concerning supermarkets . The shop owner is thus not obliged to sell the goods, even if signage such as "special offer" accompanies the display . Also, in Fisher v Bell (1961) 1 QB 394, the display of a flick knife for sale in a shop did not contravene legislation which prohibited "offering for sale an offensive weapon". If a shop mistakenly displays an item for sale at a very low price it is not obliged to sell it for that amount . For an offer to be capable of becoming binding on acceptance, the offer must be definite, clear, and objectively intended to be capable of acceptance . </P>

Carlill v carbolic smoke ball offer or invitation to treat