A manager, though he lacked actual authority to authorise and offer a particular loan facility to the plaintiff, still did so by sending him a letter of offer which was accepted.
Held: Albeit the manager lacked actual authority to make the loan and that no other person in the bank had held him out as having such authority, by reason of his very position he was a person who would ordinarily have authority to communicate the decision of more senior members of the bank who were authorised to make and/or approve such a loan and the plaintiff was accordingly entitled to rely upon the offer he had received. Steyn LJ said that a ‘theme that runs through our law of contract is that the reasonable expectations of honest men must be protected. It is not a rule or a principle of law. It is the objective which has been and still is the principal moulding force of our law of contract. It affords no licence to a Judge to depart from binding precedent. On the other hand, if the prima facie solution to a problem runs counter to the reasonable expectations of honest men, this criterion sometimes requires a rigorous re-examination of the problem to ascertain whether the law does indeed compel demonstrable unfairness’.
Judges:
Steyn LJ
Citations:
Independent 16-Apr-1993, [1993] 2 Lloyds Rep 194
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (A Company Established Pursuant To the Laws of Canada) v CX Reinsurance Company Limited (Formerly CNA Reinsurance Company Ltd) CA 6-Mar-2003
The claimant appealed a refusal to order that a dispute between insurer and re-insurer be referred to arbitration. One party sought to avoid liability under the policy, alleging misrepresentation. Discussions had been undertaking settling a revised . .
Cited – Jordan Grand Prix Limited v Vodafone Group Plc ComC 4-Aug-2003
The claimant asserted that the defendant had agreed in the course of a telephone conversation, to provide sponsorship, and sought to enforce that agreement. There were considerable conflicts of evidence.
Held: Evidence given on behalf of the . .
Cited – Golden Ocean Group Ltd v Salgaocar Mining Industries Pvt Ltd and Another ComC 21-Jan-2011
The defendants sought to set aside orders allowing the claimants to serve proceedings alleging repudiation of a charterparty in turn allowing a claim against the defendants under a guarantee. The defendant said the guarantee was unenforceable under . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Agency, Contract
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.80555
