Keith A. Rowley (William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas) has posted You Asked for it, You Got it…Toy Yoda: Practical Jokes, Prizes, and Contract Law (Nevada Law Journal, Vol. 3, p. 526, 2003) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article explores the contractual intent, assent, and consideration issues underlying offers or acceptances made in jest, reward offers, contests, and related topics, including some historical discussion of the judicial and scholarly shift from subjective to objective assent, as well as a discussion of shared subjective assent overcoming contrary objective manifestations. In addition to its scholarly value, this article is an excellent supplement to casebook materials on and hornbook discussions of contract formation and consideration.