The law is also concerned with the objective appearance, as well as the actual fact, of agreement.
For example, if Gill makes an offer to Anne and Anne says that she accepts the offer, but secretly she does not intend to accept the offer, there is in fact not an agreement because Anne has not agreed. However, to an outsider viewing the situation, there would appear to be an agreement. In other words objectively there appears to be an agreement between Gill and Anne. In such a case the court would say that there was an agreement between them.
Apply the principle in the next quote, sometimes known as the rule in Smith v Hughes, to the example just considered.