Morrison v. Thoelke 155 So.2d 889 (Fla. App. 2 Dist. 1963) • The Morrisons owned some property in Florida that they were going to sell to Thoelke. Thoelke mailed a contract for the sale of the property to the Morrisons in Texas. Then the Morrisons signed the contract and sent it back to Florida. After mailing the contract back but before Thoelke received it, the Morrisons called to repudiate the contract. The Morrisons sued to quiet title in order to try to prevent Thoelke from selling the property. • Morrison argued that a renunciation prior to receipt of the acceptance voids the acceptance. Acceptance is complete only upon receipt of the mailed acceptance. • Thoelke argued the acceptance was effective when the letter of acceptance was put in the mailbox. • Quiet title is a property term that means that the title to the property has some confusion to it, and they can't sell the property or borrow on it while there is this confusion. • The Trial Court decided for the Morrisons, saying that the repudiation was effective, and Thoelke appealed. • The Appellate Court reversed and found in favor of Thoelke. • The Court ruled that the offeree has the power to accept and close the contract by mailing a letter of acceptance, properly stamped and addressed, within a reasonable time. The contract is regarded as made at the time and place that the letter of acceptance is put into the possession of the post office. When the offeror assents and at the very instant of posting that assent, an agreement has been reached. The right to effectively withdraw must be dependent upon the initial determination of when the acceptance is effective and irrevocable. There must be a point in time when a contract is complete. An acceptance is effective upon mailing and not receipt. The acceptance was manifested at the point of depositing in the mail. • The Appellate Court goes into a long and involved history of the mailbox rule. The Court cites three factors that went into the creation of the rule in the case of Adams v. Lindsell: • It is efficient to establish a "bright line", hard-edged rule for the sake of efficiency. This is satisfied by making acceptance effective at the time the envelope goes into the mailbox. • The court wanted to limit the ruling of Cooke v. Oxley without overruling it. The new rule would allow offers to be revoked any time before acceptance except in this case of mailing acceptance. • In terms of doctrine, a mailed offer is considered an offer that remains continuously open while it's in the mail. • Every State in the US follows the mailbox rule. Project Wonderful -Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0• The mailbox rule is very rigid. It is effective even if the letter is lost in the mail! • The mailbox rule has also been applied to telegrams and faxes. • The offeror is the master of the offer. The offeror can specify that an acceptance is only valid when received, but you have to explicitly state that. • Everything else in contract law is effective on receipt, not on delivery.