Facts Brogden & Sons had a long-standing informal business relationship supplying coal to the Metropolitan Railway Company. To formalise their arrangement, the parties decided to create a written contract. The railway company’s agent drafted the terms and sent the document to Brogden for consideration. Brogden’s agent made some minor alterations to the draft, notably inserting the name of an arbitrator to resolve any future disputes. He then signed the document, marked it as ‘approved’, and returned it to the railway company’s agent. The railway company’s agent simply placed the document in his desk drawer and never formally communicated his acceptance
Facts Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co Ltd (CBE) were contracted to construct the steel framework for a building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They required a significant quantity of specialised cast steel nodes for this project. CBE sent a ‘letter of intent’ to British Steel Corp (BSC) requesting that BSC commence production of these nodes immediately, in anticipation of a formal contract being finalised. Negotiations on the formal contract proceeded but ultimately failed. A key point of contention was the liability clause; BSC insisted on a clause excluding liability for consequential loss arising from late delivery, whereas CBE sought to impose
Facts The defendants, Ipswich Plant Hire (IPH), urgently required a dragline crane for work on marshy ground. They contacted the plaintiffs, British Crane Hire (BCH), by telephone to arrange the hire. Both parties were established businesses engaged in the hiring of heavy earth-moving equipment. Following the telephoned agreement, BCH delivered the crane. They subsequently sent a printed form setting out their standard conditions of hire, which IPH had not yet received or signed when the incident occurred. The crane, while being moved on the marshy ground under the direction of IPH, became stuck in the mud. Significant costs were incurred
Facts The appellants (the shipowners, Tenax Steamship Co) chartered their vessel, ‘The Brimnes’, to the respondents (the charterers) under a time charterparty. The agreement required the charterers to pay hire in advance. The charterers were persistently late with their payments. A clause in the charterparty entitled the shipowners to withdraw the vessel from service ‘in default of payment’. Frustrated by another late payment, the shipowners instructed their bank to refuse the payment if it arrived and sent a notice of withdrawal by Telex to the charterers. The Telex message was sent and printed on the charterers’ machine in London at
Facts The plaintiff, Mr Bolton, agreed to install a combined central heating and hot water system in the defendant’s, Mr Mahadeva’s, home for a lump sum price of £560. Upon completion, the defendant complained that the system was defective. The defects were significant: the system failed to heat the house adequately, with the heat output being substantially lower than it should have been, and it produced fumes in the living room, making it uncomfortable and unsafe. The cost to remedy these defects was assessed by the trial judge to be £174.50. The defendant refused to pay any portion of the
Facts The defendant, Blackpool Borough Council, owned and managed Blackpool Airport. They invited the claimant, Blackpool and Fylde Aero Club, and six other parties to submit tenders for a concession to operate pleasure flights from the airport. The Aero Club had held the concession since 1975. The Council’s invitation to tender stated that tenders must be submitted in a provided envelope and that any tender received after the deadline of 12 noon on 17th March 1983 would not be considered. The invitation also included a clause stating, ‘The Council do not bind themselves to accept all or any part of
Facts In early 1914, the defendants, T. W. Allen & Sons Ltd, who were timber merchants in Hull, agreed to sell 70 standards of Finland birch timber to the plaintiffs, Blackburn Bobbin Co. Ltd. The delivery was to be free on rail at Hull. It was the normal course of business for English timber merchants like the defendants to import timber from Finland and hold it in stock. However, at the time of the contract, the defendants had no stock of Finland birch timber and intended to fulfil the contract by sourcing it directly from their supplier in Finland for
Facts The case concerned a contract for the sale of two blocks of land in Avondale, New Zealand, named “Homestead” and “Hogan’s,” from the appellant (vendor, Bisset) to the respondents (purchasers, Wilkinson & Anor). During negotiations, the respondents, who intended to use the land for sheep farming, inquired about its carrying capacity. The appellant, who had not carried on sheep farming on the land as a single unit, stated that he estimated the land, if properly worked and with a good man, would carry 2,000 sheep. The respondents were aware that the appellant had not used the combined blocks for
Facts Mr Peter Beswick, a coal merchant, entered into a written agreement to sell his business to his nephew, the appellant Mr John Joseph Beswick. The agreement stipulated that the nephew would employ Peter Beswick as a consultant for the remainder of his life at a weekly salary. A crucial term of the contract was that upon Peter Beswick’s death, the nephew would pay an annuity of £5 per week to Peter Beswick’s widow, the respondent Mrs Ruth Beswick, for the rest of her life. The widow was not a party to this agreement. After Peter Beswick’s death, the nephew
Facts The claimant, Mr. Bernstein, purchased a new Nissan Laurel motor car from the defendants, Pamson Motors, for £8,000. Three weeks after taking delivery, having driven the car for 140 miles, the engine completely seized while he was on the motorway. The car was towed to a service station and then back to the defendants’ premises. The cause of the failure was identified as a piece of sealant that had blocked the oil supply to the camshaft, which was a latent defect present from the time of manufacture. This constituted a clear breach of the implied condition of merchantable quality