Llanelly Railway and Dock Company v London and North Western Railway Company: 1873

The parties had entered into a contract, in part to secure repayment of a loan, providing permission for the defendant to run its trains over the plaintiff’s tracks. The contract made no provision for termination.
Held: All the provisions of the agreement showed it to be non terminable. A decision as to whether it could be determined could not be itself determined by an arbitration arising n the service by one party of a notice determining the contract. If the notice was valid, there was no contract under which a reference could be made.

Judges:

Lord Selbourne

Citations:

[1873] 8 Ch App 942, (1873) 42 LJ Ch 884, (1873) 29 LT 357, (1873) 21 WR 889

Citing:

Appeal fromLlanelly Railway and Dock Company v London and North Western Railway Company CA 1872
James LJ said: ‘I start with this proposition that prima facia every contract is permanent and irrevocable and it lies upon a person who say that it is revocable or determinable to show either something special in the contract itself, or something . .

Cited by:

CitedIn Re Spenborough Urban District Council’s agreement; Spenborough Corporation v Cooke Sons and Company Ltd ChD 1968
A contract regulating the flow of industrial effluents into a public sewer contained no power of termination notwithstanding that the agreement it replaced did.
Held: There is no presumption in law that a joint venture is not terminable.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.450970