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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  















Construction - From: 1930 To: 1959

This page lists 3 cases, and was prepared on 20 May 2019.


 
 Andreae v Selfridge and Co Ltd; CA 1938 - [1938] Ch 1
 
Panamena Europea Navigacion v Frederick Leyland and Co [1947] AC 428
1947
HL
Lord Thankerton
Construction, Arbitration
The parties had entered into an agreement providing for arbitration of any disputes. Lord Thankerton said: "By entering into the contract the respondents agreed that the appellant's surveyor should discharge both these duties and therefore they cannot claim that the appellant's surveyor must be in the position of an independent arbitrator, who has no other duty which involves acting in the interests of one of the parties."
and "Dr Telfer declined to proceed with the matter unless he was provided with the information to which, on his erroneous view of the contract, he held himself entitled; in this view the Appellants concurred, and this position was maintained up to and after the issue of the writ. This means an illegitimate condition precedent to any consideration of the granting of a certificate was insisted on by Dr. Telfer and by the Appellants. It is almost unnecessary to cite authority to establish that such conduct on the Appellants' part absolved the Respondents from the necessity of obtaining such a certificate, and that the Respondents are entitled to recover the amount claimed in the action."
and "The view of the function of the appellant surveyor under clause 7 of the contract which I have already expressed, makes it clear beyond dispute that the Respondents have done everything which was necessary for them to do in order to require Dr. Telfer to proceed to consider the granting of a certificate under clause 7, but that Dr. Telfer declined to proceed with the matter unless he was provided with the information to which, on his erroneous view of the contract, he held himself entitled; in this view the Appellants concurred, and this position was maintained up to and after the issue of the writ. This means an illegitimate condition precedent to any consideration of the granting of a certificate was insisted on by Dr. Telfer and by the Appellants. It is almost unnecessary to cite authority to establish that such conduct on the Appellants' part absolved the Respondents from the necessity of obtaining such a certificate, and that the Respondents are entitled to recover the amount claimed in the action."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Bellgrove v Eldridge (1954) 90 CLR 613
1954


Damages, Commonwealth, Construction
High Court of Australia. The builder built a house with defective foundations, as a result of which the house was unstable. The building owner brought an action against the builder claiming the cost of reinstatement. Held: His claim succeeded on the facts.
The court approved the rule as stated in Hudson on Building Contracts that: "The measure of the damages recoverable by the building owner for the breach of a building contract is . . the difference between the contract price of the work or building contracted for and the cost of making the work or building conform to the contract" as to the case law: "In none of these cases is anything more done than that work which is required to achieve conformity and the cost of the work, whether it be necessary to replace only a small part, or a substantial part, or, indeed, the whole of the building is, subject to the qualification which we have already mentioned and to which we shall refer, together with any appropriate consequential damages, the extent of the building owner's loss. The qualification, however, to which this rule is subject is that, not only must the work undertaken be necessary to produce conformity, but that also, it must be a reasonable course to adopt."
The cost of reinstatement work subject to the qualification of reasonableness was the extent of the loss. Reasonableness was a factor to be considered in determining what was that loss rather than, as had been argued, merely a factor in determining which of two alternative remedies were appropriate for a loss once established.
The land owner, having contracted for a building, is, as a general rule, entitled to have a building which conforms with the contract plans, the High Court continued: "The qualification, however, to which this rule is subject is that, not only must the work undertaken be necessary to produce conformity, but that also, it must be a reasonable course to adopt. No one would doubt that where pursuant to a building contract calling for the erection of a house with cement rendered external walls of second-hand bricks, the builder has constructed the walls of new bricks of first quality the owner would not be entitled to the cost of demolishing the walls and re-erecting them in second-hand bricks. In such circumstances the work of demolition and re-erection would be quite unreasonable or it would, to use a term current in the United States, constitute "economic waste" . . We prefer, however, to think that the building owner's right to undertake remedial works at the expense of a builder is not subject to any limit other than is to be found in the expressions "necessary" and "reasonable", for the expression "economic waste" appears to us to go too far and would deny to a building owner the right to demolish a structure which, though satisfactory as a structure of a particular type, is quite different in character from that called for by the contract. Many examples may, of course, be given of remedial work, which though necessary to produce conformity would not constitute a reasonable method of dealing with the situation and in such cases the true measure of the building owner's loss will be the diminution in value, if any, produced by the departure from the plans and specifications or by the defective workmanship or materials. As to what remedial work is both "necessary" and "reasonable" in any particular case is a question of fact."
1 Citers


 
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