unilateral and bilateral contracts

unilateral and bilateral contracts

A unilateral contract is one in which one party makes an express engagement or undertakes a performance, without receiving in return any express engagement or promise of performance from the other. Bilateral (or reciprocal) contracts are those by which the parties expressly enter into mutual engagements, such as sale or hire. Kling Bros. Engineering Works v. Whiting Corporation, 320 Ill.App. 630, 51 N.E.2d 1004, 1007.

When the party to whom an engagement is made makes no express agreement on his part, the contract is called unilateral, even in cases where the law attaches certain obligations to his acceptance. Essence of a "unilateral contract" is that neither party is bound until the promisee accepts the offer by performing the proposed act. King v. Industrial Bank of Washington, D.C.App., 474 A.2d 151, 156.

It consists of a promise for an act, the acceptance consisting of the performance of the act requested, rather than the promise to perform it. Antonucci v. Stevens Dodge, Inc., 73 Misc.2d 173, 340 N.Y.S.2d 979, 982

Compare bilateral contract.

+ reciprocal contract

A contract, the parties to which enter into mutual engagements. A mutual or bilateral contract