A room was hired to view a royal procession which was subsequently cancelled. The hirer had paid part of the fee. The court ruled he could not recover the sum paid and remained liable for the balance, establishing the harsh 'loss lies where it falls' principle. Facts The claimant, Mr Chandler, agreed to hire a room from the defendant, Mr Webster, for the purpose of viewing the coronation procession of King Edward VII on 26 June 1902. The total price for the hire of the room was £141 15s, payable immediately. The contract stated, ‘To view the Royal Coronation Procession.
A landlord promised to accept reduced rent during WWII due to low occupancy. Although this promise lacked consideration, the court held it was temporarily binding. The case established the modern doctrine of promissory estoppel, preventing a promisor from unenforceably reverting to strict legal rights. Facts In 1937, the plaintiff, Central London Property Trust Ltd., let a block of flats in London to the defendant, High Trees House Ltd., on a 99-year lease at a ground rent of £2,500 per annum. Following the outbreak of the Second World War and the resulting difficulty in letting the flats, the parties made an
A car was sold to a rogue who paid with a fraudulent cheque. The original owner, upon discovering the fraud, immediately informed the police. This action was held to be a valid rescission of the contract, preventing title from passing to a subsequent innocent purchaser. Facts On 12th January 1960, Mr Caldwell, the defendant, sold his Jaguar motor car to a man named Norris. The sale was induced by fraudulent misrepresentation, as Norris paid with a cheque that was later dishonoured. Upon discovering the fraud the next morning, Mr Caldwell immediately reported the matter to the police and the Automobile
Caparo Industries made a takeover bid relying on inaccurate statutory accounts prepared by auditors, Dickman. The House of Lords held the auditors owed no duty of care to Caparo as a potential investor, establishing the modern tripartite test for negligence. Facts The appellants, Caparo Industries Plc, began purchasing shares in a company named Fidelity Plc in 1984. The annual accounts for the year ending 31 March 1984, prepared by the respondent auditors, Touche Ross & Co (of which Mr Dickman was a partner), showed a pre-tax profit of £1.3 million. Relying on these accounts, Caparo purchased more shares and, in
A fire caused by the Crown's employees' negligence destroyed goods in a shed leased to Canada Steamship Lines. The court established a seminal three-stage test to determine if an indemnity or exemption clause in their contract covered liability for negligence. Facts The appellant, Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., leased a freight shed on a wharf in Montreal harbour from the respondent, the Crown. The lease stipulated that the lessee (appellant) would not have any claim against the lessor (Crown) for damage to goods in the shed (Clause 17) and that the lessee would indemnify the lessor against all claims for injury
A charterer's sugar cargo was delivered late, by which time the market price had fallen. The House of Lords held the shipowner liable for the loss of profit, clarifying the test for remoteness of damage in contract is what was reasonably contemplated as 'not unlikely' to result from the breach. Facts The respondents (charterers) chartered the appellant’s (shipowner’s) vessel, The Heron II, to transport a cargo of 3,000 tons of sugar from Constanza to Basrah. The ship was contractually due to proceed with all convenient speed. In breach of contract, the ship made unauthorised deviations, causing a delay of nine
A licensee was wrongfully ejected from premises, but his claim for wasted expenditure on fixtures failed. The court held that damages cannot be used to escape a bad bargain or put a claimant in a better position than if the contract had been performed. Facts The claimant, Mr Middleton, was granted a contractual licence by the plaintiff, C & P Haulage, to occupy premises for use in his car repair business. The licence was for a renewable six-month period. A term of the agreement stipulated that any fixtures put into the premises by the licensee were to be left on
Defendants offered to sell goods by post, then posted a letter revoking the offer. Before receiving the revocation, the claimants accepted by telegram. The court held the revocation was only effective upon receipt, by which time a binding contract had formed. Facts The defendants, Leon Van Tienhoven & Co., were based in Cardiff. On 1 October, they posted a letter to the plaintiffs, Byrne & Co. in New York, offering to sell 1000 boxes of tinplates. On 8 October, the defendants posted a second letter revoking their offer. On 11 October, the plaintiffs received the initial offer letter and immediately
In a 'battle of the forms', a seller offered a machine tool with a price variation clause. The buyer replied with their own terms, lacking the clause. The seller returned the buyer's tear-off acknowledgement slip, which was deemed acceptance of the buyer's counter-offer. Facts On 23 May 1969, the sellers, Butler Machine Tool Co Ltd, offered to sell a machine tool to Ex-Cell-O Corporation for £75,535. The offer was made on Butler’s standard terms and conditions, which were printed on the reverse of the quotation. These terms included a price variation clause, allowing the price to be increased if there
Facts The case concerned a contract for the sale of 15,000 tons of US soya bean meal by Tradax Export SA (Panama) (the sellers) to Bunge Corporation (New York) (the buyers). The contract stipulated shipment to be made from a Gulf port to be nominated by the sellers, with the goods being shipped in three instalments during May, June, and July 1975. The contract incorporated the standard GAFTA Form 119, which contained Clause 7, requiring the buyers to give the sellers ‘at least 15 consecutive days’ notice of probable readiness of vessel(s) and of the approximate quantity to be loaded’.
