(a) Dorper Sheep Sellers Pty Ltd was negotiating the sale of a number of dorper sheep to a firm called Livestock Brokers, which intended to on-sell the sheep. On 1 June Dorper Sheep Sellers sent a letter to Livestock Brokers, setting out the number of sheep for sale and the price per head. It asked Livestock Brokers to reply within 14 days.

Livestock Brokers sent a letter by reply dated 6 June, inquiring whether the sale could be financed on the 'usual terms'. Dorper Sheep Sellers did not reply.

On 14 June, at the opening of business, Livestock Brokers sent a fax stating: 'We accept your offer of 1 June for the sale of sheep'. The same day Dorper Sheep Sellers faxed back, saying: 'You're too late. We're just in the process of selling the stock to another purchaser. Formalities will be completed by tomorrow'.

Advise Livestock Brokers as to the rights and liabilities of the parties in the light of the commercial interactions taken place between them.

(b) Presume in (a) above Livestock Brokers sent the fax on 14 June but because of a transmission error Dorper Sheep Sellers did not receive it. Advise Livestock Brokers under these circumstances.

Assessment task

1. __________________ A person trying to avoid arrest after committing a felony.
2. __________________ Force that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death.
3. __________________ A legal response by the defendant. It may consist only of a denial of the factual allegations of the prosecution.
4. __________________ Also known as the right-versus-wrong test of insanity, this rule states that an accused cannot be considered guilty of a criminal act if, as a result of a defect of reason caused by a disease of the mind, the accused did not know the nature and quality of the act or did not know that the act was wrong.
5. __________________ A test of insanity (also known as the product rule) that states that "an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect."
6. __________________ The introduction by the defense attorney of new factual allegations that, if true, constitute a complete or partial defense to the crime charged.
7. __________________ A defense for a defendant who has proof that he or she was unconscious or semiconscious when the crime was committed. Epilepsy, a concussion, or an emotional trauma are examples of conditions that may be used for this defense.
8. __________________ The defense that a defendant was induced by a government agent to commit a crime that the defendant would not have been inclined to commit without such inducement.
9. __________________ An alternative to the insanity defense; permits finding that defendants were mentally ill but not insane at the time they committed the crimes charged. They are guilty, and they may be punished, but generally the jurisdictions that have this concept require that these defendants must receive psychiatric treatment while they are confined.