WS4 Terms Flashcards
Bannerman v White 1861
defendant said ‘if they have been treated with sulphur, I am not interested in even knowing the price of them’ [regarding hops crops]. 3/500 acres of eventual produce was treated with sulphur and defendant treated contract as repudiated; court held the statement was understood as a term of the sale.
Routledge v McKay 1954;
seller of a motorcycle told the buyer in good faith it was a 1941/42 model. Bought 1 week later; Bike was a 1930 model and the buyer sued for breach; Court of appeal held that lapse of time meant statement was a representation and not a term of the contract. Court also influenced in Routledge v McKay 1954 that when the contract was reduced to writing the model was not mentioned.
Oscar Chess v Williams 1957
Car dealer claimants sued for breach of contract because a car traded in by Williams in good faith showed the wrong date, which made it worth considerably less. Court of Appeal held that the age of the car was not a term of the contract and that the car dealers had the skill, not the seller. Statement was a representation.
Schawel v Reade 1913
Seller claimed that a horse was fit to be a stud and the buyer need not examine them; this was not the case. Horse was not fit for stud purposes and statement was deemed a term. Court also considered that the defendant actively dissuaded the plaintiff from making checks
Dick Bentley v Harold Smith 1965
Defendant company told purchaser that a car had only done 20,000 miles since its creation. Statement was repeated; car was purchased; evident this was not true. Court of Appeal held that statement as to mileage was a term of the contract; and that car dealer had the knowledge.
Parker v South Eastern Railway 1876-7
Terms form part of the contract if reasonable steps have been taken to bring them to the claimant’s attention
Thompson v London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1930
Established that terms might be incorporated by reference to a different document; e.g. in this case, terms contained within a railway timetable
Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking 1971
Lord Denning said that if a clause was particularly onerous it would need to be ‘printed in red ink, with a red hand pointing to it’
Chapleton v Barry 1940
Claimant hired a deck chair; after payment he was given a ticket with terms. These were held to not be binding because ticket was not intended to have contractual effect.
McCutcheon v David MacBrayne 1964
an attempt to incorporate via a course of dealing was unsuccessful because written terms relied upon had not been consistently incorporated in the past.
