A term in a charterparty provided that the vessel was to sail from England on or before the 4th of February. The question which arose was whether that term was a condition precedent upon the non-compliance wherewith the freighters were at liberty to throw up the charter.
Held: In giving judgment, Tindal CJ said: ‘Whether a particular clause in a charter-party shall be held to be a condition, upon the non-performance of which by the one party, the other is at liberty to abandon the contract and consider it at an end; or whether it amounts to an agreement only, the breach whereof is to be recompensed by an action for damages, must depend upon the intention of the parties to be collected, in each particular case, from the terms of the agreement itself, and from the subject matter to which it relates’. ‘ It cannot depend,’ as Lord Ellenborough observes, ‘ on ‘any formal arrangement of the words, but (must depend) on the reason’ and sense of the thing as it is to be collected from the whole contract.’
Judges:
Tindal CJ
Citations:
[1874] 2 Man and G 257
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – F L Schuler AG v Wickman Machine Tools Sales Limited HL 4-Apr-1973
The parties entered an agreement to distribute and sell goods in the UK. They disagreed as to the meaning of a term governing the termination of the distributorship.
Held: The court can not take into account the post-contractual conduct or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.251068