R v Clarke 40 CLR 227 is court case decided by the Australian High Court in the law of contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

.

Facts

The claimant wanted to compel the Crown to pay a reward it had offered for information leading to the conviction of a murderer. The claimant gave the information. But he gave it while he was under investigation himself for murder. He told the police "exclusively in order to clear himself". It was uncertain whether he was thinking about the reward at the time he coughed up the information.

Judgment

Higgins J interpreted the evidence to say that Clarke had forgotten about the offer of the reward. Starke J and Isaacs ACJ only went so far as to say that he had not intended to accept the offer. The Court held it was necessary to act in "reliance on" an offer in order to accept it, and therefore create a contract. Starke J said "the performance of some of the conditions required by the offer also establishes prima facie an acceptance of the offer." But here it was held that the evidence showed, Mr Clarke was not acting on the offer. So a presumption that conduct which appeared to be an acceptance was relying on an offer was displaced.

See also

• Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company
  Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company
  Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1893] is an English contract law decision by the Court of Appeal, which held an advertisement containing certain terms to get a reward constituted a binding unilateral offer that could be accepted by anyone who performed its terms...
  
  
• Williams v. Carwardine
• Gibbons v Proctor
  Gibbons v Proctor
  Gibbons v Proctor [1891] 64 LT 594 , is an English contract law case that deals with an offer, via advertisement, and whether or not a person who doesn't know of the offer can accept the offer if he completes the conditions of the offer.-Facts:A police officer supplied information for which a...
  
  [1891] 64 LT 594