Kevin met Samantha. He told her that he wanted to buy her painting for RM5,000. Samantha responded by saying “I will think about it”. Later Samantha told Kevin that she would sell the painting for RM7,000. Kevin replied he did not want the painting.
One week later, Kevin received a bonus from his employer. He immediately contacted Samantha and told her that he would pay her asking price (RM7,000). Samantha refused to give Kevin the painting, saying the price had now gone up to RM10,000.
Discuss whether Samantha is bound by any contract to sell the painting to Kevin for RM7,000. Make references to relevant case laws and legislation to support your discussion.

A contract is when one party offers something and the other party accepts and there is a consideration.

In the given scenario, when Kevin offered to buy the painting from Samantha for RM5000, he is making an offer to Samantha. Samantha afterward makes a counteroffer to sell the painting at RM7000, which implies that the first offer made by Kevin is rejected by her.

Kevin denies buying the painting at RM 7000 from Samantha hence, rejecting her offer. Since there is no acceptance from Kevin's side Samantha's offer ends at his rejection. This implies that there is no contract between the two to nbuy and sell the painting at RM7000, which means that Samantha is not legally bound to sell the painting to Kevin.

The reason for not being a contract is that there has to be a valid offer and a corresponding acceptance to the offer, while the parties being on the same page ( There must be a meeting of mind with the consensus of parties on terms of the offer, which need to be accepted as a mirror image, with no party making any changes to any term/clause). Since there was no such acceptance, there is no contract.