''Holman v Johnson'' (1775) 1 Cowp 341 is an

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 concerning the principles behind illegal transactions. It is possibly the first case in English law where the court explicitly recognised that aspects of a claim before the court might be adjudicated according to foreign law. It is also the first English case to explicitly mention and define the term ‘public policy.’ W.S.W. Knight, Public Policy in English Law, 38 L.Q.R. 207 (1922), pp. 209-210.

Facts

The claimant, who lived in

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

, sold

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

to the defendant. The claimant knew it was intended to be

smuggled Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

into England, though was not concerned with the smuggling scheme. The method of payment was meant to be by bills of exchange drawn in England. The claimant brought an action for non-payment, and the defendant contended that it could not be enforced because the contract was unlawful.

Judgment

Lord Mansfield CJ held that the agreement could be enforced because the seller had himself done nothing unlawful. He said the following. In relation to the

conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a Legal case, case, Transactional law, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction."Conflict o ...

point, Mansfield added:

Significance

The decision was cited with approval by 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 ...

in '' Government of India v Taylor''

955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...

AC 491.

Notes

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References

* English contract case law English conflict of laws case law 1775 in British law 1775 in case law Court of King's Bench (England) cases Lord Mansfield cases

Facts

Judgment

Significance

See also

Notes

References