Hyde v Wrench (1840) 49 ER 132

Facts
Wrench offered to sell his farm in Luddenham to Hyde for £1200, an offer which Hyde declined. On 6 June 1840 Wrench wrote to Hyde's agent offering to sell the farm for £1000, stating that it was the final offer and that he would not alter from it.Hyde offered £950, and after examining the offer Wrench refused to accept, and informed Hyde of this on 27 June.On the 29th Hyde agreed to buy the farm for £1000 without any additional agreement from Wrench, and after Wrench refused to sell the farm to him he sued for breach of contract.

Judgment
Lord Langdale's judgement read:
Under the circumstances stated in this bill, I think there exists no valid binding contract between the parties for the purchase of this property. The defendant offered to sell it for £1000, and if that had been at once unconditionally accepted there would undoubtedly have been a perfect binding contract; instead of that, the plaintiff made an offer of his own, to purchase the property for £950, and he thereby rejected the offer previously made by the defendant. I think that it was not afterwards competent for him to revive the proposal of the defendant, by tendering an acceptance of it; and that, therefore, there exists no obligation of any sort between the parties.

Held
There was no contract. Where a counter offer is made this destroys the original offer so that it is no longer open to the offeree to accept.