The Hydraulic Engineering Co Ltd v Spencer and Sons: CA 1886

The defendants had contracted to make and deliver to the plaintiffs 15 cast iron cylinders. The contract provided that the cylinders would be cast according to specifications and plans provided by the plaintiffs, and also that the cylinders would be able to stand a pressure of 25 cwt per square inch.
Held: The appeal from Coleridge CJ failed. The Court rejected the defendants’ contention that, because ‘the flaw was the inevitable result of the plan upon which the plaintiffs ordered them to do the work the defendants could not be held liable for a defect caused by that plan’
Lindley LJ said that ‘it was manifest that the defendants thought that they could cast the cylinders on [the] pattern [sent by the plaintiffs] without defects’. Although he accepted that ‘the defect was unavoidable’, he said that ‘there was no doubt that it was a defect’ and ‘the [defendants] were therefore liable’. Lord Esher MR and Lopes LJ agreed.

Judges:

ord Esher MR and Lopes LJ, Lindley LJ

Citations:

(1886) 2 TLR 554

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedMT Hojgaard As v EON Climate and Renewables UK Robin Rigg East Ltd and Another SC 3-Aug-2017
The defendants had requested tenders for the design and construction of an offshore wind farm. The court now considered the situation arising because of inconsistencies between documents in the tender request. The successful tender was based upon an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.644059