A tenant served notice to quit by posting it to his landlord’s agent. The jury found that it arrived that same day, after the agent had left, but there ought to have been someone there to receive it.
Held: The judges agreed that this was good service.
Pollock CB said: ‘we think that in the case of a notice to quit the putting it into the post-office is sufficient, and that the party sending it is not responsible for its miscarriage. As this letter was posted in London between nine and ten o’clock in the morning, the probability is that it arrived immediately after the agent left his chambers. Indeed it is possible that it may have arrived in the due course of post, but by some accident. was overlooked – either not delivered by the servant to the clerk or in some way mislaid. Besides it did not appear that it was not delivered before seven o’clock in the evening; and the jury considered that the agent ought to have had some one in his chambers at that time. A notice so sent must be considered as having reached the agent in due time, and the same consequences must result as if he had actually been there and received it. In my opinion the finding of the jury was right, and the notice was delivered at the agent’s place of business in sufficient time to inform him, if he had been there, that the tenancy was to be determined at the time specified. For these reasons I think there ought to be no rule.’
Pollock CB
[1860] EngR 672, (1860) 5 H and N 518, (1860) 157 ER 1285
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood SC 25-Apr-2018
Notice of dismissal begins when received by worker
The court was asked: ‘If an employee is dismissed on written notice posted to his home address, when does the notice period begin to run? Is it when the letter would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post? Or when it was in fact . .
These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2021; Ref: scu.285511