R2d § 18
Manifestation of Mutual Assent
Manifestation of mutual assent to an exchange requires that each party either make a promise or begin or render a performance.
Professor's notes
Elements: manifestation of mutual assent requires that each party either (1) make a promise or (2) begin or render a performance.
Lucy v. Zehmer is the working case: a signed writing on the back of a restaurant check manifested assent regardless of Zehmer's claimed intoxicated joke. The court reads outward conduct, not inward state.
Common misunderstanding: students conflate § 18 with a "meeting of the minds." It is a manifestation rule, not a mental-state rule. Words and conduct that a reasonable person would read as assent bind even a party who privately meant otherwise. This is the chok-like formal anchor of the entire formation doctrine.
Cases that operationalize this rule
Text
R2d § 18. Manifestation of Mutual Assent.
Manifestation of mutual assent to an exchange requires that each party either make a promise or begin or render a performance.