Georgian Co. v. Bloom

• Decision Date: 07 October 1921
• Docket Number: 12487.
• Citation: 108 S.E. 813,27 Ga.App. 468
• Parties: GEORGIAN CO. v. BLOOM.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

108 S.E. 813

27 Ga.App. 468

GEORGIAN CO. v. BLOOM.

No. 12487.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Second Division

October 7, 1921

Syllabus by the Court.

A general advertisement in a newspaper for the sale of goods is a mere invitation to enter into a bargain, and is not an offer.

Additional Syllabus by Editorial Staff.

The first essential of a sale is that there must be an identification of the thing sold under Civ. Code 1910, § 4106.

To consummate a contract of sale, there must be a meeting of minds.

Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; Geo. L. Bell, Judge.

Action by the Georgian Company against Jennie Bloom. Judgment for plaintiff, and from an order sustaining certiorari and ordering a new trial, plaintiff brings error. Reversed.

Rosser Slaton, Phillips & Hopkins, and Jas. J. Slaton, all of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Lowndes Calhoun and J. H. Leavitt, both of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

HILL J. (after stating the facts as above).

A general advertisement in a newspaper for the sale of an indefinite quantity of goods is a mere invitation to enter into a bargain, rather than an offer.

"A business advertisement published in newspapers and circulars sent out by mail or distributed by hand, stating that the advertiser has a certain quantity or quality of goods which he wants to dispose of at certain prices, are not offers which become contracts as soon as any person to whose notice they might come signifies his acceptance by notifying the other that he will take a certain quantity of them. They are mere invitations to all persons who may read them that the advertiser is ready to receive offers for the goods at the price stated." 13 C.J. 289, § 97.

"If goods are advertised for sale at a certain price * * * the construction is rather favored that such advertisement is a mere invitation to enter into a bargain, rather than an offer." 1 Williston on Contracts, § 27.

In the instant case the advertisement, which is the basis of the counterclaim, specified no definite quantity of the furs for sale, though there was a more or less indefinite description of the qualities of the goods. The first essential of a sale is that there must be "an identification of the thing sold." Civil Code (1910), § 4106. To consummate a contract there must be "a meeting of minds." There was no merit in the counterclaim filed by the defendant in the municipal court, and the judge of that court committed...