The Scope of Revocation of Offer in Iranian, English, and United States Law: A Comparative Study
Keywords:
Offer, Revocation of Offer, Legitimate Reliance, Pre-contractual Liability, Comparative Contract LawAbstract
Revocation of offer constitutes a pivotal concept in the pre-contractual stage, playing a crucial role in balancing the offeror’s autonomy with the offeree’s legitimate reliance. It defines the boundary between non-binding negotiations and enforceable contractual obligations and directly affects legal certainty and transactional stability. This study adopts an analytical and comparative approach to examine the scope of revocation of offer in Iranian, English, and United States law. The findings indicate that Iranian law, largely grounded in a will-based approach, generally permits revocation prior to acceptance, subject mainly to formal limitations. English law, while maintaining the general rule of revocability, restricts it through mechanisms such as option contracts and estoppel. United States law goes further by recognizing firm offers and by developing reliance-based doctrines, including promissory estoppel, thereby providing stronger protection for the offeree’s expectations. The study concludes that these differences stem from distinct legal philosophies and that focusing on the “scope” rather than the mere “possibility” of revocation offers a more precise analytical framework for regulating pre-contractual relations.
References
American Law, I. (1981). Restatement (Second) of Contracts. American Law Institute Publishers.
Atiyah, P. S. (2021). An Introduction to the Law of Contract. Oxford University Press.
Cartwright, J. (2019). Formation and Variation of Contracts. Sweet & Maxwell.
Chen-Wishart, M. (2021). Contract Law. Oxford University Press.
Chernykh, S., & Karton, J. (2025). The Formation of International Contracts. Hart Publishing.
Devenney, J. (2024). Contract Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. Routledge.
Emami, S. H. (2016). Civil Law, Volumes 1–2. Eslamiyeh Publishing.
Farnsworth, E. A. (2019). Farnsworth on Contracts. Aspen Publishers.
Ghanavati, M. R. (2013). Offer and Acceptance in Contract Law. Mizan Publishing.
Graziano, T. (2025). Comparative Contract Law. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Jafari Langroudi, M. J. (2021). Encyclopedia of Civil and Commercial Law. Ganj Danesh Publishing.
Jafari Langroudi, M. J. (2022). Legal Terminology. Ganj Danesh Publishing.
Katouzian, N. (2019). General Rules of Contracts, Volumes 1–2. Sahami Enteshar.
Khomeini, R. (2010). Tahrir al-Wasilah: Book of Sale. Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.
McKendrick, E. (2022). Contract Law. Palgrave Macmillan.
McKendrick, E. (2023). Contract Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. Oxford University Press.
Mohaqqeq Damad, M. (2017). Jurisprudential Rules: Transactions. Center for Islamic Sciences.
Najafi, M. H. (2009). Jawahir al-Kalam fi Sharh Shara'i al-Islam. Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya.
Poole, J. (2020). Textbook on Contract Law. Oxford University Press.
Safai, S. H. (2024). International Sale of Goods: A Comparative Study of Iranian, French, English, and U.S. Law. Mizan Publishing.
Safai, S. H., & Emami, A. (2024). Civil Law: Contracts and Obligations. Mizan Publishing.
Shahidi, M. (2018). Formation of Contracts and Obligations. Majd Publishing.
Stone, R., & Devenney, J. (2024). The Modern Law of Contract. Routledge.
Taghavian, M. H. (2024). Comparative Contract Law. Mizan Publishing.
Uniform Law, C. (2022). Uniform Commercial Code: Article 2 – Sales. Uniform Law Commission.
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 1402 Samad Shoorcheh (Author); Seyed Hossein Safaii (Corresponding author); Nejad Ali Almasi (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
