Law Faculty

D & C Builders v. Rees [1966] 2 QB 617, Court of Appeal The plaintiffs, a small building company, carried out building work for the defendant. The defendant paid £250 on account and a balance of £482 13s. 1d. remained…

Foakes v. Beer (1884) 9 App Cas 605, House of Lords In August 1875 the respondent, Mrs Beer, obtained a judgment against the appellant, Dr Foakes, for the sum of £2,090 19s. Mrs Beer was entitled to interest on the…

Williams v. Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Contractors) Ltd [1991] 1 QB 1, Court of Appeal The defendant building contractors entered into a contract with the plaintiff carpenter under which the plaintiff agreed to carry out the carpentry work on the…

Williams v. Williams [1957] 1 WLR 148, Court of Appeal [The facts of the case are set out in the judgment of Denning LJ.] Denning LJ In the present case a wife claims sums due to her under a maintenance…

Ward v. Byham [1956] 1 WLR 496, Court of Appeal The plaintiff and the defendant were, respectively, mother and father to a child. After they had lived together as partners for several years, and the plaintiff had given birth to…

Chappell & Co Ltd v. The Nestlé Co Ltd [1960] AC 87, House of Lords The plaintiffs were the owners of the copyright in a musical work entitled ‘Rockin’ Shoes’. The defendants offered to supply gramophone records which included Rockin’…

Sudbrook Trading Estate Ltd v. Eggleton [1983] 1 AC 444, House of Lords Lord Fraser of Tullybelton My Lords, the appellants are the tenants in four leases, by each of which they were granted an option to purchase the freehold…

Scammell and Nephew Ltd v. Ouston [1941] AC 251, House of Lords The defendants (appellants) wrote to the plaintiffs (respondents) and offered to sell them a Commer van for £268 and to take the plaintiffs’ Bedford van in part exchange,…

Hillas & Co Ltd v. Arcos Ltd (1932) 147 LT 503, House of Lords By an agreement dated 21 May 1930 the appellants agreed to buy from the respondents ‘22,000 standards of softwood goods of fair specification over the season…

May and Butcher Ltd v. The King [1934] 2 KB 17n, House of Lords May and Butcher Ltd, the suppliants1 (also referred to in the judgments as the appellants), alleged that they had concluded an agreement with the Controller of…

Dickinson v. Dodds (1876) 2 Ch D 463, Court of Appeal On Wednesday 10 June 1974 the defendant (Dodds) sent to the plaintiff (Dickinson) a note in which he stated: ‘I hereby agree to sell to Mr George Dickinson the…

Byrne & Co v. Van Tienhoven & Co (1880) 5 CPD 344, Common Pleas Division The defendants, who carried on business in Cardiff, offered by letter on October 1 to sell tin[1]plate to the plaintiffs at a fixed price. The…

Holwell Securities Ltd v. Hughes [1974] 1 WLR 155, Court of Appeal Under a contract with the defendant, the plaintiffs were granted an option to purchase land. Clause 2 of the agreement provided: ‘THE said option shall be exercisable by…

Felthouse v. Bindley (1862) 11 CBNS 869, 142 ER 1037, Court of Common Pleas The plaintiff claimed that he had purchased a horse from his nephew. After some negotiations, the plaintiff wrote to his nephew on 2 January 1862 in…