Credit Cards and the Virtual Acceptance

A recent case decided in a lower New York court indicates an interesting use of the virtual acceptance. Neither the decision nor the opinion is of great import, but the case is noteworthy because of the theory advocated by the plaintiff which shows a clever (and successful) attempt to adapt a principle developed during the last century to a modern type of credit transaction. In addition, it furnishes an opportunity to discuss a significant change made by the Uniform Commercial Code in the field of Negotiable Instruments. The action was brought by the financer of a credit club to collect obligations incurred by a credit card user. The credit plan, a tripartite contract, involved the following parties: the Esquire Club, Gale Creations which was a "company member" of the club, and Kass, an employee of Gale Creations who had been issued a card by the club in accordance with the arrangement. Gale Creations having become insolvent, collection was attempted from Kass who had made the purchases

Contracts (1962)

§4.1. Introduction. The 1961 Annual Suroey of American Law pointed to the Uniform Commercial Code as the most significant development in the law of contracts during recent years. This statute, with its many provisions affecting the rules of offer and acceptance, consideration, unconscionable agreements and other aspects of the contractual relationship, will undoubtedly have a substantial effect upon traditional contract concepts. At the very least, there has been a shift from the Willistonian rigidity to Llewellynian flexibility in contracts involving the sale of personal property. Furthermore, with the natural tendency of some courts to reason by analogy and apply the theme of a statute to situations not technically within its scope, the Code may well have a profound influence upon the supposedly unitary concepts which are thought to run whenever a contract is in question