is a leading

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 ...

case. It provides a good example of the rule that a clause cannot be incorporated after a contract has been concluded, without reasonable notice before. Also, it was held that an automatic ticket machine was an offer, rather than an

invitation to treat An invitation to treat (or invitation to bargain in the United States) is a concept within contract law which comes from the Latin phrase ''invitatio ad offerendum'', meaning "inviting an offer". According to Professor Andrew Burrows, an invita ...

, that the insertion of money was an acceptance, therefore, specifically, any (additional) conditions on the ticket were post-acceptance and invalid. Although the case is important for these two propositions, today any exclusion of negligence liability for

personal injury Personal injury is a legal term for an Injury (law), injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law, common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the ...

by businesses is prohibited by the

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (c. 50) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates contracts by restricting the operation and legality of some contract terms. It extends to nearly all forms of contract and one of its most ...

s 2(1) and the

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 Unfair may refer to: * The negative form of the adjective ''fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting fro ...

Sch 2, para(a).

Facts

Francis Thornton, "a free lance

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

of the highest quality", drove to the entrance of the

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

on Shoe Lane, before attending a performance at Farringdon Hall with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He took a ticket from the

ticket machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...

and parked his car. It said

"This ticket is issued subject to the conditions of issue as displayed on the premises".

On the car park pillars near the paying office there was a list, one excluding liability for

"injury to the Customer … howsoever that loss, misdelivery, damage or injury shall be caused".

Three hours later he had an accident before getting into his car. The car park operator argued that the judge should have held the matter regulated by this contract, not

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

Judgment

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 ...

held that the more onerous the clause, the better notice of it needed to be given. Moreover, the contract was already concluded when the ticket came out of the machine, and so any condition on it could not be incorporated in the contract. Megaw LJ and Sir Gordon Willmer agreed with the onerous point, but reserved their opinions on where the contract was concluded. Furthermore, Sir Gordon - similarly to Denning - distinguished this case from the other ticket cases based upon the fact that a human clerk proffered the ticket and the buyer therefore would have had the opportunity to disagree with the conditions, hand the ticket back and have their money refunded.

Notes

References

External links

Full text of the decision at BAILII

{{Auth Lord Denning cases English incorporation case law English unfair terms case law 1970 in United Kingdom case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References

External links