The court considered the meaning of a promise by one party to use its best endeavours.
Held: Mustill J said: ‘it was argued that the arbitrators can be seen to have misdirected themselves as to the law to be applied, for they have found that EIC did ‘all that could reasonably be expected of them’, rather than finding whether EIC used their ‘best endeavours’ to obtain permission to export, which is the test laid down by the decided cases. I can frankly see no substance at all in this argument. Perhaps the words ‘best endeavours’ in a statute or contract mean something different from doing all that can reasonably be expected-although I cannot think what the difference might be. The unreported decision of the Court of Appeal in IBM v Rockware Glass upon which the buyers relied, does not suggest that such a difference exists.’
Judges:
Mustill J
Citations:
[1980] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 608
Citing:
Cited – IBM v Rockware Glass Ltd CA 1980
The court considered the meaning on a promise by one party to use its best endeavours to obtain a relevant planning permission.
Held: The obligation included an obligation to appeal from an initial refusal of permission so long as the . .
Cited – Tsakiroglou and Co Ltd v Noblee Thorl GmbH HL 1961
The appellants had agreed to sell to the respondents 300 tonnes of groundnuts. However due to the blockade of the Suez canal from November 2 1956 until April 1957, the appellants failed to deliver these goods and the respondents sued for breach of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Rhodia International Holdings Ltd. Rhodia UK Ltd v Huntsman International Llc ComC 21-Feb-2007
The parties contracted for the sale of a chemical surfactants business.The claimant had contracted to use reasonable endeavours to obtain the consent of a third party for the assignment a a contract to supply energy to the business. The defendant . .
Cited – Vitol Sa v Norelf Ltd HL 10-Jul-1996
(The Santa Clara) The seller was to deliver propane by a ship set to leave on a certain date. The market was falling. The buyer, when it was clear that the ship would be unable to leave on the day fixed, sent a telex to say that the contract was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.251418
