Liverpool City Council v Irwin
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Liverpool City Council v Irwin
OR:
Liverpool City Council v Irwin on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

{{Clist implied terms ''Liverpool City Council v Irwin'' UKHL 1
is a leading 976
UKHL 1
is a leading English contract law case concerning the basis on which courts may imply terms into contracts; in particular in relation to all types of
tenancies (including leases of land), a term may be implied if required for a particular relationship, such as for the landlord to keep the stairwells clear in a tower block. The tenants also had a duty of reasonable care which some among them had been repeatedly breached and led to a continuing breach in matters of damage about which they complained so they were not entitled to withhold rent on the Fact (law)">facts A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. For exa ...
.


Facts

Three 15-storey tower blocks were built in Everton, Liverpool in 1966. Each had 70 units, a stairwell, two lifts, and a rubbish chute. Mr and Mrs Irwin were tenants from July 1966. The common parts were vandalised, the lifts did not work, the stair lights failed, the chute was blocked, lavatory cisterns blocked and overflowed. The blocks became nicknamed "The Piggeries". The tenants, conducting a
rent strike A rent strike, sometimes known as a tenants strike or a renters strike, is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants agree to collectively withhold paying some or all of their rent to the ...
, refused to pay rent. In an action by the
Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
to eject them, they counterclaimed that the Council was in breach of a duty to keep the common parts of the estates in decent repair.


Judgment


Court of Appeal

Lord Denning MR Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning, (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999), was an English barrister and judge. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he w ...
dissented from Roskill LJ and Ormrod LJ and argued that a contractual term can be implied when it is 'reasonable'. After ''
The Moorcock ''The Moorcock'' (1889) 14 PD 64 is a leading English contract law case which created an important test for identifying the main terms that the law will imply in commercial, or non-consumer, agreements, especially terms that are "necessary and o ...
'', ''Reigate'' and ''Shirlaw'', he mentioned the 'stacks' of cases where terms are implied.


House of Lords

The
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
held that there was an implied term that the landlord should take care of the common parts of a building. This duty was implied on the basis that it was necessary to do so. But on the facts it was not breached because the council was not responsible for the damage done. The tenants also had a duty of reasonable care, and so they were not entitled to withhold rent on the facts.
Lord Wilberforce Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce, (11 March 1907 – 15 February 2003) was a British judge. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1964 to 1982. Early life and career Born in Jalandhar, India, Richard Wilberforce was the son of ...
held it was a necessary term of living on an estate that landlords keep stairwells in order. However tenants also had a duty of reasonable care and on the facts the council was not in breach of its obligations. Applying the business efficacy or the officious bystander test would not result in the term’s implication, but asking what the relationship required would.


See also

*
English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the Industrial Revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...
* Implied terms in English law ;Implication in fact *''
The Moorcock ''The Moorcock'' (1889) 14 PD 64 is a leading English contract law case which created an important test for identifying the main terms that the law will imply in commercial, or non-consumer, agreements, especially terms that are "necessary and o ...
'' (1889) 14 PD 64 *'' Shirlaw v Southern Foundries Ltd'' 9392 KB 206, 207 *'' Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman''
002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 OO2, the minor planet 7499 L'Aquila *1990 OO2, the asteroid 9175 Graun Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'' ...
1 AC 408 *'' Paragon Finance plc v Nash'' 001EWCA Civ 1466 ;Implication in law *'' Shell UK Ltd v Lostock Garage Ltd''
976 Year 976 ( CMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 10 – Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople, after returning from a second campaign against ...
WLR 1187 *'' Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board''
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as far south as Germany and Korea. Euro ...
1 AC 294, *'' Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority''
991 Year 991 (Roman numerals, CMXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events * March 1: In Rouen, Pope John XV ratifies the first Peace and Truce of God, Truce of God, between Æthelred the Unready and Richard I o ...
2 All ER 293 *'' Mahmud and Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA''
998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescentius II (the Younger) and his followers ...
AC 20 *'' Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd''
004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * La ...
EWCA Civ 293


Further reading

*E Peden (2001), "‘Policy Concerns in Terms Implied by Law", 117
Law Quarterly Review The ''Law Quarterly Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering common law throughout the world. It was established in 1885 and is published by Sweet & Maxwell. It is one of the leading law journals in the United Kingdom. History Th ...
459 Lord Denning cases English implied terms case law 1977 in United Kingdom case law House of Lords cases Liverpool City Council 1970s in Liverpool Rent strikes