Contracts Acceptance Definition

Acceptance is necessary to the formation of a contract and must be unequivocally made and communicated to the party making the offer at the time and place appointed. The acceptance may be express, as when it is openly stated by the party to be bound by it; or implied, as where the party acts as if he had accepted. The offer, and acceptance must be in some manner understood by, both parties; it may be language, symbolical, oral or written.

For example, at auction sales, the contract, generally symbolic; a nod, a wink, or some other sign by one party, indicates that he makes an offer, and bringing down a hammer by the other, that he agrees to it.