This text provides a scholarly and practical analysis of the legal principles which govern the formation of contracts in English law, offering those involved in litigation and in drafting contracts a guide to the application of those principles in practice. The book reviews all the classical rules governing contract formation with extensive coverage of difficult areas such as certainty, conditional contracts, good faith negotiations, auctions, tenders, on-line contracting and the assessment of conduct and silence in contract formation. It also discusses the efficacy, problems and rules around modern contracting, in particular the use of heads of agreement, letters of intent, letters of comfort and the methods of resolving a battle of the forms. In this second edition a chapter has been added on consideration and estoppel. Although this work is based on English law, the text draws upon decisions in other jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Singapore and New Zealand, where these inform the development of principles in English law.