What is the test for an option in a contract where the option is scratched in the sand?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Automaster Automotive Services Ltd. v. Kenco Enterprises Ltd., 2009 BCSC 1594 (CanLII):

As with any contract, an option must be sufficiently certain in its terms to be capable of enforcement. As Baker J. said in Hanley v. Anderegg (1993), 33 R.P.R. (2d) 170 at para. 32 (B.C.S.C.): … Parties may, if they wish, compose and honour agreements which are oral or written on paper airplanes or scratched in the sand. They can only call upon the assistance of the courts to enforce those contracts if, in fact, the terms of the bargain are sufficiently certain and capable of determination and show a true meeting of the minds of the parties.

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