August 28, 2025
Merritt v Merritt [1970] 1 WLR 1211
Held that agreements between spouses can be legally binding if intended.
Blog
August 28, 2025
Edwards v Skyways Ltd [1964] 1 WLR 349
Presumed intention to create legal relations in commercial agreements.
August 28, 2025
What can be established from Balfour v Balfour?
Balfour v Balfour (1919) landmark case on intention to create legal relations, differentiating domestic promises from binding contracts.
August 28, 2025
![Tyres in Dunlop v Selfridge [1915] AC 847](https://www.lawcases.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/tyres.jpg)
Impact of Dunlop v Selfridge [1915] AC 847 on contract law
The case of Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Selfridge established key principles regarding the rights of third parties in contract law.
August 28, 2025
Allcard v Skinner 09 Jul 1887 36 Ch D 145, CA
Facts In 1868, the claimant, Miss Allcard, a woman of approximately 35 years, was introduced to the defendant, Miss Skinner, who was the lady superior of a Protestant institution known as the ‘Sisterhood of St. Mary at the Cross’. The sisterhood was a voluntary association of women dedicated to charitable...
August 28, 2025
Alec Lobb (Garages) Ltd v Total Oil (GB) Ltd [1984] EWCA Civ 2 (08 November 1984)
Facts The plaintiffs, a family-owned company, Alec Lobb (Garages) Ltd, and its directors, Mr. and Mrs. Lobb, were in severe financial distress. To avoid insolvency, they entered into a complex transaction in 1969 with the defendant, Total Oil (GB) Ltd. The agreement consisted of a lease and lease-back arrangement for...
August 28, 2025
Ailsa Craig Fishing Co Ltd v Malvern Fishing Co Ltd [1981] UKHL 12 (26 November 1981)
Facts The appellants, Ailsa Craig Fishing Co Ltd, owned a fishing vessel, the George Craig, which was moored in Aberdeen Harbour. They contracted with the third party, Securicor (Scotland) Ltd, to provide security services for their vessels. The contract incorporated Securicor’s standard conditions of business. Due to the negligence of...
August 27, 2025
AEG (UK) Ltd v Logic Resource Ltd [1995] EWCA Civ 19 (20 October 1995)
Facts The claimant, AEG (UK) Ltd (‘AEG’), a buyer, entered into a contract with the defendant, Logic Resource Ltd (‘Logic’), a seller, for the purchase of cathode ray tubes. The contract was formed on AEG’s standard conditions of purchase. After delivery to AEG’s premises in the UK, the tubes were...
August 27, 2025
Adler v Dickson [1954] EWCA Civ 3 (29 October 1954)
Facts The plaintiff, Mrs Fay Adler, was a first-class passenger on the P. & O. steamship ‘Himalaya’ for a cruise. Her ticket, which constituted the contract of carriage with the company, contained an exemption clause. This clause stated that passengers were carried at their own risk and that the company...
August 27, 2025
Addis v Gramophone Co Ltd [1909] UKHL 1 (26 July 1909)
Facts The plaintiff, Mr. Addis, was employed by the defendant, Gramophone Company Ltd., as their manager in Calcutta, India. His employment contract stipulated a salary of £15 per week and a commission on trade done. The contract was terminable upon six months’ notice. In October 1905, the company gave Mr....
August 27, 2025
Adams v Lindsell [1818] EWHC KB J59 (05 June 1818)
Facts The defendants, wool-dealers in St. Ives, sent a letter to the plaintiffs, who were woollen manufacturers in Bromsgrove, on 2 September 1817, offering to sell them a quantity of wool. The defendants required an answer ‘in course of post’. Critically, the defendants misdirected this letter to ‘Bromsgrove, Leicestershire’, instead...
April 25, 2025
Sutherland v Her Majesty’s Advocate (Scotland) [2020] UKSC 32
An adult 'paedophile hunter' posing as a 13-year-old boy on Grindr received sexual communications from Sutherland, who was convicted of sexual offences. The Supreme Court held admitting this evidence did not breach his article 8 ECHR rights. Facts An adult member of a ‘paedophile hunter’ (PH) group called ‘Groom Resisters...
April 25, 2025
Villiers v Villiers (Rev 1) [2020] UKSC 30
Mrs Villiers, habitually resident in England after separating from her husband in Scotland, applied in England for maintenance under section 27 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 while divorce proceedings continued in Scotland. The Supreme Court held, by majority, that the English court had jurisdiction and no power to stay...
April 25, 2025
Hilton, R v (Northern Ireland) [2020] UKSC 29
Ms Hilton pleaded guilty to benefit fraud offences and a confiscation order was made against her half-share in a jointly-owned property. The Supreme Court held section 160A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 did not require third-party representations at the confiscation stage unless a section 160A determination was actually...
April 25, 2025
The Advocate General (representing Revenue and Customs) v K E Entertainments Ltd (Scotland) [2020] UKSC 28
A bingo operator sought to reclaim VAT overpaid between 1996-2004 after HMRC changed its guidance from game-by-game to session-by-session calculation. The Supreme Court held the claim was time-barred under section 80 VAT Act, rejecting the argument that a change in calculation method constituted a decrease in consideration. Facts The appellant...
April 25, 2025
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc v Kymab Ltd [2020] UKSC 27
Regeneron's patents claimed transgenic mice with a hybrid antibody gene structure (Reverse Chimeric Locus) spanning a wide range. The Supreme Court held the patents invalid for insufficiency because the disclosure enabled only mice at the least valuable end of the range, not across the whole claimed scope. Facts Regeneron Pharmaceuticals...
October 3, 2024
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (transcript)
During the course of electro-convulsive therapy [E.C.T.] treatment administered to him at the defendants’ mental hospital, the plaintiff, a voluntary patient, sustained bilateral “stove-in” fractures of the acetabula. E.C.T. treatment consisted in the passing of an electric current through the brain of the patient which, when given unmodified, i.e., without...
