The sellers of and disputed an order as to whether electrical equipment at the site hd been included in the contract.
Held: ‘the answer to the question ‘what meaning should be given to the words used in the memorandum’ cannot, I think, be a matter of serious doubt. The electrical apparatus at the site plainly included the high voltage reduction transformer, switch gear, distribution panels and isolators and the other equipment to which the judge referred. It is equally clear that the memorandum confirms that that apparatus – as well as the machinery used in the sawmill – is to be taken out. It is impossible to confine the words ‘the sawmill equipment will be removed and . . electrical apparatus will be taken out’ to the machinery alone. And, if the electrical apparatus as well as the machinery is to be taken out, the words ‘the first isolator’ in the context of the phrase ‘wiring taken out back to the first isolator’ must mean the isolator on the supply side of the apparatus. It is not, I think, in dispute that the first isolator on the supply side of the high voltage reduction transformer and its associated switch gear was at the point of connection to the high voltage supply.
It follows that the purchasers were not entitled to succeed on their claim. I would allow the vendor’s appeal against the order for payment.’
Judges:
Chadwick LJ, Sir Murray Stuart Smith
Citations:
[2001] NPC 165, [2001] EWCA Civ 1700
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – De Lassalle v Guildford CA 1901
The court was asked whether a representation amounts to a warranty or not.
Held: AL Smith MR said: ‘In determining whether it was so intended, a decisive test is whether the vendor assumes to assert a fact of which the buyer is ignorant, or . .
Cited – Record v Bell ChD 21-Dec-1990
Contracts for the sale of a house were about to be exchanged but office copy entries of the vendor’s title at the Land Registry had not yet been supplied. The solicitors agreed that contracts would be exchanged on the basis of a warranty that office . .
Cited – Prenn v Simmonds HL 1971
Backgroun Used to Construe Commercial Contract
Commercial contracts are to be construed in the light of all the background information which could reasonably have been expected to have been available to the parties in order to ascertain what would objectively have been understood to be their . .
Cited – United Bank of Kuwait Plc v Sahib and Others CA 2-Feb-1996
The bank appealed against a decision that the simple deposit of deeds with a bank did not take effect as an equitable charge.
Held: Depositing deeds with a bank is not sufficient to create a charge over them. The old law as to the creation of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167821