This is a seminal English contract law case establishing the "counter-offer" rule. It confirms that making a counter-proposal to an original offer rejects and extinguishes that original offer, meaning it cannot subsequently be accepted to form a binding contract.

• The Original Offer: On June 6, the defendant (Wrench) offered in writing to sell his farm to the plaintiff (Hyde) for £1000.

• The Counter-Offer: On June 8, the plaintiff's agent met with the defendant and offered to pay £950 instead.

• The Refusal: The defendant took a few days to consider this £950 offer and, on June 27, wrote to the plaintiff refusing it.

• The Attempted Acceptance: On June 29, immediately upon receiving the refusal, the plaintiff wrote back agreeing to the original terms of £1000.

• The Dispute: The defendant refused to complete the sale, and the plaintiff sued for specific performance, arguing the original offer had not been withdrawn.

• Did the plaintiff's counter-offer of £950 destroy the defendant's original offer of £1000?

• Could the plaintiff revive the original offer by accepting it after his counter-offer was rejected?

The Master of the Rolls (Lord Langdale) ruled in favour of the defendant, allowing the demurrer. There was no valid binding contract between the parties. 

• Rejection by Counter-Offer: A counter-offer acts as a rejection of the original offer.

• Extinguishment: Once an offer is rejected by a counter-proposal, it is dead and cannot be revived or subsequently accepted by the offeree without the offeror's new consent.

• No "Revival": Since the plaintiff rejected the £1000 offer by proposing £950, he could not later unilaterally create a contract by attempting to accept the original terms.