The appellant agreed to pay andpound;1,000 to the executors of the owner of a diary if he was fatally injured in a railway accident within twelve months of his name being registered at its head office. The respondent’s husband filled up and forwarded an application for registration which the appellant acknowledged. The appellant did not keep a register, but it arranged and filed the applications for registration in alphabetical order. The issue arose whether the respondent’s application was registered (interpreted as meaning arranged alphabetically with other applications and filed) within the year.
Held: The fact that the date of registration rested peculiarly and solely within the knowledge of the appellant was vital. This was plainly relevant to the issue on whom the parties to the contract must have intended to impose the burden of proving compliance or non-compliance with the twelve month time limit. In the case of a transaction of this kind’ the onus of satisfying the court as to when registration was effected (and accordingly that it was effected more than twelve months prior to the accident) rested on the appellant. In a word, upon a fair reading of the contract construed in the light of the circumstances that the appellant assumed responsibility for effecting registration and would alone know when it took place, the persuasive burden of proof that registration was effected more than twelve months before the accident rested on the appellant and the appellant had failed to discharge that burden.
Judges:
Shaw L
Citations:
[1909] AC 404
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Christopher Evans v SMG Television Limited etc ChD 26-Jun-2003
The claimant had a series of agreements with the respondents. He had worked as radio presenter, having sold the radio station to the respondents. He was later dismissed and now sought damages for wrongful dismissal and breach of a partnership . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Evidence
Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.183822