ust
pay up and compelled them to give him the L100 offered.

Another case may be briefly mentioned. A offered to sell B his farm
for $1000. B offered $950, which offer was declined. Then B offered
to pay $1000. By that time A had changed his mind and declined to
accept B's offer. Then B sued to get the farm, offering to pay the
money; but the court held that B had declined A's offer and
consequently that, as A had not made any other offer, there was no
contract.

Finally, it may be added that the phrase "by return mail" does not
always mean by the next mail, although the person to whom the offer is
made cannot delay his answer long. On the other hand, the person to
whom such a letter may be addressed can bind the other by an
acceptance very quickly after the receipt of the offer, although not
literally by the first mail going out.

VII. WHAT CONTRACTS MUST BE IN WRITING

_Some contracts must be in writing to be valid_; for instance,
contracts relating to the sale and leasing of lands. This writing must
be signed by the person who is charged with having made it. Suppose
that A has sold his farm to B for an agreed sum and refuses to give
him a deed on his payment of the amount or offer to pay, and B wishes
to compel A to carry out or execute his agreement. B must show a
writing signed by A to that effect, otherwise the court will not pay
any attention to the matter. On the other hand, if A claims that such
an agreement has been made with B, who is unwilling to pay the money
and receive the deed, he must show in court a writing signed by B that
he has agreed to purchase the farm at a stated price and to receive a
deed of the same. If such a writing is not forthcoming when required,
he cannot recover anything from him. This is the meaning of the
phrase, therefore, that a writing must be signed by the party charged
with having made the agreement.

_The writing need not be very formal._ It need not specify the amount
that is to be paid; in other words, it need not specify the
consideration. Some courts say, however, that it must contain this
fact or statement. It may be in pencil. I presume it would be
sufficient if written on a blackboard with chalk. But it must be a
writing of some kind signed by the party to be charged; that is the
essential thing. The courts have also said that this writing need not
be on a single piece of paper. If the two parties have made an
agreement by a series of letters, an offer on the on