The Association had attempted to control the price of cars in the context of statutory support. It was after the Second World war and new cars were in short supply. Buyers of new cars had to contract not to sell the car bought for two years without first offering it for sale to the plaintiff at a price reflecting the depreciated price as new. The defendant was accused of breaching this term.
Held: The contract term was valid. The real value of the car was in fact 100 pounds less than had been paid for it to the defendant. Nevertheless the court awarded pounds 836 in damages. The plaintiff had suffered no direct financial loss but the award of damages for breach of contract would effectively strip the wrongdoer of the profit he had made from his wrongful venture into the black market for new cars. It was appropriate to go to what was described as a surreptitious market that was fed by persons who had broken their covenants.
Dankwerts J
[1951] 2 All ER 641
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – HM Attorney General v Blake (Jonathan Cape Ltd third Party intervening) HL 3-Aug-2000
The author had written his book in breach of his duty of confidence. Having signed the Official Secrets Act, he accepted a contractual private law duty. After conviction as a spy, the publication of the book was in breach of the undertaking by not . .
Cited – Mouat v Betts Motors Ltd PC 20-Oct-1958
When setting a level of damages, a price on a surreptitious market should be used, if that gave the correct measure of the loss. . .
Cited – Islam, Regina v HL 10-Jun-2009
The defendant appealed against a confiscation order saying that it should not have been set at values which reflected the black market value of the drugs he had imported.
Held: The appeal failed. The court could take account of the illegal . .
These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 16 June 2021; Ref: scu.180895