A rogue had purchased a car, using a false name to obtain finance. He had then sold it to the defendant. The finance company claimed the car back.
Held: The dealer had not taken all the steps he might have done to check the identity of the buyer, but Cundy v Lindsay was binding, and the innocent purchaser had not obtained any title. The Act did not operate to protect him unless the rogue had been a debtor under the Act. The person whose signature had been forged could not be sued under the finance agreement. The rogue was not the hirer named in the agreement. The dealer was not the agent of the finance company, since he had no authority to make an agreement on their behalf. It was therefore impossible to apply the ‘face to face’ principle to suggest the contract was made with the rogue who presented himself at the showroom.
Judges:
Lord Justice Brooke, Lord Justice Sedley, Lord Justice Dyson
Citations:
Times 04-Jul-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1000
Statutes:
Hire Purchase Act 1964 27, Consumer Credit Act 1974 Sch 4 Para 22
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appealed to – Shogun Finance Limited v Hudson HL 19-Nov-2003
Thief acquired no title and could not sell
A purchaser used a stolen driving licence to obtain credit for and purchase a car. He then purported to sell it to the respondent, and then disappeared. The finance company sought return of the car.
Held: (Lords Nicholls and Millett . .
Applied – Cundy v Lindsay HL 1878
Cundy was asked to pay the linen manufacturers Lindsay and Co for 250 dozen cambric handkerchiefs which he had acquired from a crook who had acquired them from Lindsay by pretending to be the respectable business firm of Blenkiron.
Held: A . .
Cited – King’s Norton Metal Co Ltd v Edridge Merrett and Co Ltd CA 1879
A crook ordered some brass rivet wire from a metal manufacturer. On his stationery he represented falsely that he was in business in a big way, running a large factory and having several depots and agencies. The manufacturer supplied the goods but . .
Cited – Re De Leeuw, Jakens v Central Advance and Discount Corporation Chd 1922
A deed which bears a false signature is a forgery and creates no rights whatever.
Where a party sues as trustee a judgment in the proceeding shall bind the persons having a beneficial interest under the trust as it does the trustee. . .
Cited – Gallie v Lee CA 1969
A deed bearing a false signature is a forgery and creates no rights at all. ‘If the deed was not his deed at all (non est factum), he is not bound by his signature any more than he is bound by a forgery. The document is a nullity just as if a rogue . .
Cited – Ingram v Little 27-Jul-1960
Two ladies had a car for sale. A buyer came along. He fooled them into believing him to be someone else, and they sold him the car, after checking the name in the telephone directory. Before the cheque bounced, the rogue sold the car to the . .
Cited – Branwhite v Worcester Works Finance Ltd HL 1969
A dealer may for some ad hoc purpose be the agent of a finance company. In relation to a purchase of a motor vehicle through a motor dealer, where the prospective purchaser completes an application for hire purchase in the office of the motor . .
Cited – Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Hamblin CA 1964
Pearson LJ said: ‘There is no rule of law that in a hire purchase transaction the dealer never is, or always is, acting as agent for the finance company or as agent for the customer.Nevertheless, the dealer is to some extent an intermediary between . .
Cited – Lewis v Averay CA 22-Jul-1971
A private seller had parted with his car in return for a worthless cheque to a rogue who persuaded him that he was the well-known actor who played Robin Hood on television, and who sold it on to the defendant.
Held: ‘When two parties have come . .
Cited – Hector v Lyons 1988
The appellant contracted to buy a house but used his under-aged son’s name. He sought specific performance when the vendor failed to complete.
Held: Since he was neither the purchaser nor the purchaser’s agent, specific performance was . .
Cited – Sowler v Potter 1939
The defendant had been convicted of an offence of permitting disorderly conduct in a cafe, under her proper name of Ann Robinson. She then assumed the name of Ann Potter. The plaintiff’s evidence was that, if he had known that she was Ann Robinson, . .
Cited – Fawcett v Star Car Sales Limited 1960
(New Zealand) ‘a void contract is a paradox; in truth there is no contract at all.’ and ‘the difficulty in deciding whether a mistake of identity prevents the formation of a concluded contract is a proper assessment of the facts rather than the . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Shogun Finance Limited v Hudson HL 19-Nov-2003
Thief acquired no title and could not sell
A purchaser used a stolen driving licence to obtain credit for and purchase a car. He then purported to sell it to the respondent, and then disappeared. The finance company sought return of the car.
Held: (Lords Nicholls and Millett . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Consumer, Contract, Torts – Other
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.160060
