Unilateral contract

The known reward is completed

An owner offers $1,000 for finding and returning a particular lost key by Friday. The searcher knows of the offer, finds the key and returns it as required before the deadline. No competing claim or other qualification is supplied.

1. The offer requests a result rather than a promise to search.
2. The stated act is completed with knowledge of the offer.

Answer: The supplied facts fit acceptance of the classic unilateral reward offer.

The act was finished before the reward was known

A neighbor finds and returns the key on Monday without knowing of any reward. On Tuesday the neighbor first learns that a reward had been offered.

1. The act was already complete before the offer was known.
2. Later knowledge does not turn the earlier act into acceptance of that offer.

Answer: The facts do not establish the classic reward contract through that earlier act. A statute or a separate later promise would require its own analysis.

A promise to search is not the promised result

The offer expressly promises payment only for finding and returning the key. A person replies, I promise to search tomorrow, but does nothing further.

1. The response is a promise rather than the requested act.
2. The stated payment condition has not occurred.

Answer: The reply does not complete acceptance of the supplied act-only offer or earn the reward.

Work has started, but the required result is missing

The informed searcher spends two hours looking but has not found or returned the key. No payment for hours worked or partial results is offered.

1. Effort is different from the specified completed result.
2. The stage of work can raise separate questions about the offer; it does not alone establish the full payment condition.

Answer: The stated reward is not yet earned on these facts. Do not use that answer as a ruling that withdrawal or interference would necessarily be lawful.

Both parties have promised future performance

A buyer promises to pay $420,000 and a seller promises to convey the identified property under a valid signed purchase agreement. Neither has completed closing yet.

1. The parties exchanged commitments.
2. Future closing obligations are performance under an existing agreement, not proof that no contract formed.

Answer: This is the supplied bilateral purchase contract.

Paying for the option is not exercise

An optionee pays $3,000 for a supported purchase option. The option separately requires an unconditional exercise notice by the stated deadline. No notice is sent and no exception is supplied.

1. The payment supports the decision period.
2. The required later exercise act is absent.

Answer: Payment alone does not exercise this option, transfer title or create the optionee's purchase obligation. Fee treatment still depends on the agreement.

The response changes the bargain

Before the option deadline, the optionee writes that exercise is conditional on the owner reducing the agreed price by $15,000. No owner acceptance or waiver is supplied.

1. The response adds a material price condition.
2. Being sent before the deadline does not make it unconditional exercise.

Answer: The response does not satisfy the supplied option's unchanged exercise terms. Treat the new condition as a proposed different bargain.

Sent before the deadline, received after it

For this example, the option expressly permits email but requires receipt in the designated system by 5:00 p.m. on October 20, 2026. A compliant message is sent at 4:59 p.m. and first enters that system in retrievable, processable form at 5:01 p.m. No different receipt rule, extension, waiver or equitable exception is supplied.

1. The stated clause makes receipt, rather than sending, the relevant event.
2. The supplied receipt is one minute after the deadline, although transmission began one minute before it.
3. The general recognition of electronic records does not rewrite the agreed deadline.

Answer: The supplied facts do not establish timely exercise under that receipt-based clause. Preserve the actual delivery evidence; do not substitute the sent timestamp.

1. What does a unilateral offer seek as acceptance?

1. The performance specified in the offer
2. A deed in every case
3. Only an unrelated return promise
4. A particular number of signatures in every case

2. Does unilateral mean that only one person is involved?

1. Only if no fee is paid
2. Yes, because there is no offeree
3. No; it describes the requested mode of acceptance
4. Yes, if the contract is electronic

3. The informed offeree completes every stated condition of the supplied valid reward offer. Which classification fits?

1. A counteroffer solely because an act occurred
2. An uncommunicated gift
3. Acceptance of a unilateral performance offer
4. A transfer of title automatically

4. The requested act was fully completed before the person first learned of the reward offer. What is the sound conclusion?

1. The later discovery itself performs the act again
2. The earlier act did not accept that unknown offer in the classic contract analysis
3. Every reward must still be paid under contract law
4. The person has become the optionor

5. An offer expressly requires finding and returning the key. The offeree only promises to search tomorrow. What is missing?

1. The requested performance
2. A second property description
3. A later gift receipt
4. A deed-tax stamp

6. A completion-based reward offers no hourly or partial payment. A search has begun, but the item is not found or returned. What follows?

1. The specified payment condition is not yet met; offer protection is a separate question
2. The offeror can always interfere with completion
3. The searcher automatically owns the lost item
4. The full reward is automatically earned

7. A valid purchase agreement exchanges a buyer's payment promise for a seller's conveyance promise. Closing is still pending. What is it?

1. A bilateral contract with future performance duties
2. A gift promise only
3. No agreement until the deed is recorded
4. A unilateral reward solely because closing is unfinished

8. What does consideration for a supported option ordinarily support?

1. The promise to keep the underlying offer open under the option terms
2. Automatic acceptance of every future purchase term
3. A universal right to a refund
4. Immediate transfer of title

9. A supported option requires a separate exercise notice. The fee is paid, but no notice or exception is supplied. What follows?

1. The fee alone does not exercise the option
2. The fee necessarily transfers title
3. The buyer must always receive the fee back
4. The option is always automatically exercised

10. An optionee says exercise is conditional on a $15,000 price reduction, without any owner agreement or waiver. What is the problem?

1. The response is automatically a deed
2. The response is necessarily too early
3. The added material condition does not match unconditional exercise
4. An option can never involve a stated price

11. Does legal recognition of electronic records make every email effective option exercise?

1. No; the actual agreement, attribution and notice requirements still matter
2. Yes, whatever the option says
3. Only if the subject line says urgent
4. Yes, if the sender uses a typed first name

12. A question describes a nonexclusive listing with a promise to pay for a specified result and no broker promise to produce it. What is the best approach?

1. Classify it solely by one signature
2. Assume a commission is always earned only at closing
3. Ignore current Illinois agreement rules
4. Recognize the supplied performance structure while applying the actual agreement and law

13. The supplied option requires email receipt by 5:00 p.m. A compliant message is sent at 4:59 and received at 5:01, with no exception supplied. Which conclusion follows?

1. The fee automatically cures lateness
2. Every email is deemed received when written
3. Sending always controls every option deadline
4. The supplied receipt is late under that clause

14. An actual offer expressly permits either an identified return promise or a stated act as acceptance. How should you analyze it?

1. Apply the actual permitted alternatives rather than forcing an act-only rule onto it
2. Ignore both alternatives and count signatures
3. Insist that only the act can ever count
4. Assume no consideration could ever exist