Final answer:
The offer to sell Duke the goat is terminated because the subject matter of the contract, Duke, has been destroyed before acceptance. This legal principle is known as supervening impossibility and releases all parties from contractual obligations.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you offer to sell Duke the goat for $50 but before the offer is accepted Duke is tragically killed, the offer is terminated due to impossibility of performance. In legal terms, an offer can be terminated by operation of law, which includes the death or incapacitation of the party making the offer or the destruction of the subject matter of the offer before acceptance. Since the goat, which is the subject matter of the contract, is no longer available, the contract cannot be fulfilled.
This is known as a supervening impossibility, and it means that neither party is obligated to proceed with the contract. In simpler terms, both the offeror and offeree are released from their potential contractual obligations because the fundamental basis of the offer (the goat being alive and available for sale) no longer exists.The offer to sell Duke the goat for $50 would be terminated if Duke is tragically killed before accepting the offer. This is because the death of either the offeror or the offeree before acceptance extinguishes the offer. In this case, Duke's death would render the offer invalid, and the parties would be released from their obligations under the offer.