There is a case, universally known to all law school students, called Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball, which is a case that absolutely every introductory contracts teacher uses for two reasons:
1.) It’s a good example of a case that shows how to distinguish an offer from an invitation to treat, and also sets the precedent for formation of a unilateral contract.
2.) It is called Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball. It is about a small ball that smoked, which you were supposed to stick up your nose as a medical aid against the flu. Indeed, a reasonable Web fascimile of the original advertisement (with an animated GIF and everything!) can be found here. You quickly understand why this is such a popular teaching case – it has a silly name and the invention is downright stupid. (In fact, the Carbolic Smoke Ball would have probably increased your chances of getting sick.)
So when I found out that there was an online store named after the infamous Carbolic Smoke Ball, I was enthused! Surely there would be tons of nifty lawyer-themed crap on there than I would want to own!
Sadly, this is not the case. The crap at carbolicsmokeball.com is not fun crap. It is, at best, mediocre crap. A surfeit of standard lame catchphrases (of the “I can only please one person per day and today is not your day” variety), a few vanity items for the lawyer’s office, and… yeah, that’s more or less it.
There is no “Lawyers Do It In The Standard Befitting A Reasonable Person” T-shirt. There is no “I Drank A Ginger Beer With A Snail In It And All I Got Was A Legal Precedent For Punishing Negligent Behaviour” beer cozy. There is no “What You Know About Tax” musical keychain.
There is not even a replica Carbolic Smoke Ball, for crissake! The site is named Carbolic Smoke Ball and there is no Carbolic Smoke Ball!
Honestly, there has to be a way to get the name away from these people and make a decent law-themed-crap-for-sale site. It would make dozens of dollars. Maybe even ten dozens.
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5 users responded in this post
You know, these are lawyers to whom you’re pandering.
Make the t-shirts out of gold, your margins may be higher.
I saw Carlill vs. Carbolic Smoke Ball and before reading thought you meant the Pittsburgh blog, Carbolic Smoke Ball. The CSB of which you speak sounds rather dangerous, whereas the blog is merely funny. If you’re from Pittsburgh, I suppose.
you know, designing the good generic stuff is fairly easy (as in, it’s all been done, just apply it to your theme) and you’ve got lots of artsy types in your immediate circle…
Oh, no, the Carbolic Smoke Ball isn’t dangerous. It was a little metal ball with a lump of carbolic acid, or phenol, in it. Phenol is the active ingredient in, for example, Chloraseptic.
And it’s aromatic, and the aroma makes your nose run. So the idea was that your nose would run and “flush out” the nostrils, and this would make you safer against catching the flu. Of course, nowadays we know that thinning the mucus in the nostrils makes you more susceptible to disease, and not less.
Chastened by your withering criticism of our website, but we do now have a replica Carbolic Smoke Ball:
http://www.carbolicsmokeball.com/catalog/4264/Carbolic_Smoke_Ball_Pen_Holder/