Facts Mr and Mrs Balfour were a married couple. Mr Balfour was a civil engineer who worked in Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). In 1915, Mr and Mrs Balfour returned to England briefly. While they were there, Mrs Balfour’s doctor advised […]
Category: Contract Law
Taylor v Caldwell [1863] EWHC QB J1
Facts Taylor & Lewis intended to rent out the Surrey Music Hall, which was owned by Caldwell, for a cost of 100 pounds per day. They planned to host four extravagant concerts with all kinds of entertainment, such as the […]
Byrne & Co v Leon Van Tien Hoven & Co [1880] 5 CPD 344
Facts Tienhoven was a company based in New York. On 1 October, they sent a letter to Byrne & Co (in Cardiff, Wales) offering 1,000 tinplates for sale Byrne & Co received the letter on 11 October, and telegraphed their […]
Harvey v Facey [1893] UKPC 1
Facts Harvey was interested in buying a Jamaican property owned by Facey. He sent Facey a telegram stating “Will you sell us Bumper Hall Pen? Telegraph lowest cash price – answer paid.” Facey responded stating “Bumper Hall Pen £900” Harvey […]
Foakes v Beer [1884] UKHL 1
Facts Beer loaned Foakes a sum of £2090. Foakes did not repay the amount, and Beer brought an action against Foakes. They then entered into a repayment scheme where Beer agreed not to sue Foakes “in consideration” of an initial […]
Smith v Hughes (1871) LR 6 QB 597
Facts Smith was a farmer while Hughes was a racehorse trainer. Smith showed Hughes a sample of some green oats, and Hughes agreed to buy a large quantity of them. However, Hughes mistakenly thought that they were old oats, which […]
Felthouse v Bindley (1862) 142 ER 1037
Facts Paul Felthouse offered to buy a horse from his nephew, writing an offer which stated “if I hear no more about him, I consider this horse mine for £30 15s” The nephew (also called Felthouse) never responded to his […]
Dickinson v Dodds (1876) 2 Ch D 463
Facts On 10 June, Dodds sent an offer to Dickinson stating that he would sell Dickinson some houses for £800. He stated that the offer would remain open until 9am on 12 June. Unbeknownst to Dickinson, Dodds sold the houses […]
Adams v Lindsell [1818] EWHC KB J59
Facts On 2 September, the Defendants wrote to the Plaintiffs with an offer to sell some wool. They requested an answer by 7 September. The Plaintiffs did not receive the letter until 5 September as the letter was mislabelled by […]
Fisher v Bell [1961] QB 394
Facts It was illegal to offer a flick knife for sale in England A shopkeeper displayed a flick knife in his shop window, with a pricetag behind it The shopkeeper was charged with offering an offensive weapon for sale Issue […]
