Oscar makes an offer to Desiree, mailing the offer on March 15. Desiree receives the offer on March 19, and on that day mails a rejection of the offer back to Oscar. Later that day, the 19th, Desiree changes her mind and mails an acceptance of Oscar. The rejection is received by Oscar on March 25. Oscar then sells the subject matter of the contract to another party. On April 1, Oscar receives the acceptance from Desiree, which Oscar promptly throws away. Desiree insists that there is a contract between her and Oscar and sues him when he refuses to perform or pay damages. The result of a lawsuit under the common law likely would be that:
Oscar will prevail since he received the rejection first.
Oscar will prevail since it would not be fair to him to enforce the contract since he unknowingly sold the subject matter to another party.
Oscar will be liable for breach of contract.
Oscar will prevail since contract law forbids the use of the mail for contracting since the mail is at times slow and unreliable.