The third it that acceptance must be made in reliance of the offer and with knowledge on the part of the offeree of the offer, and the fourth states simply that acceptance must be communicated to the offeror.
A contract may be set aside for many reasons e.g. the contract is void and has no legal effects concerning the parties, the contract is voidable, can be ended by one of the parties; where a party lacks the capacity to contract such as an infant. An agreement which may not be enforceable because it lacks genuine consent, where consent is the term used to describe the state of mind of each party at the moment an agreement is reached. If consent from parties participating in the contract is obtained through means of a mistake of law, a mistake of fact, misrepresentation duress, undue influence, or unconsionability, the agreement may not be enforceable due to a lack of genuine consent.
If the nature of the breach of contract gives one party the right to end the contract, they may either choose to continue on with the contract or they may seek for the court to grant rescission where a condition of the contract has been breached, whereby the innocent party is relieved of their obligations towards the contract and may, where appropriate seek damages. However circumstances easily arise where neither the award of damages nor the rescission of a contract are sufficient to recompense a party for their loss, so they may seek either injunction, or a specific performance.
However despite all this there are still gaps that exist within common law of contracts, an example of this was "caveat emptor" or let the buyer beware. In the past large corporations were able to rely of high-pressure salesmen to sell their products. But concern about the inequality of bargaining power has lead to an increasing number of laws to protect consumers. Parliaments have created new laws, which edit the common law of contract in order to make it more beneficial for consumers.
