The plaintiff attended a jalopy car race and was injured. It was a condition of his entry that he agreed that motor racing was dangerous and that he would not hold the organisers or others responsible if injured. He was injured when a safety rope, snagged by a car, caught and then threw him some distance. He later died from his injuries. The rope had been set up negligently. The organisers relied on the exclusion clause.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. ‘The Courts are very reluctant to hold a person bound by any exemption or condition unless it forms part of the contract between them. If there is a contractual document (as here the programme) the organisers must incorporate it into the document. If there is no contractual document, they must draw the condition specifically to the attention of the plaintiff and get his assent to it’
Lord Denning MR, Buckley, Roskill LJJ
[1972] EWCA Civ 11, [1972] 2 QB 651, [1972] 3 All ER 158, [1972] 3 WLR 296
Bailii
Occupiers Liability Act 1957 2(1)(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – McCutcheon v David MacBrayne Ltd HL 21-Jan-1964
The appellant had asked his brother-in-law to have a car shipped from Islay to the mainland. The appellant had personally consigned goods on four previous occasions. On three of them he was acting on behalf of his employer; on the other occasion he . .
Cited – Henderson v Stevenson HL 1875
Proper Notice of Exemption Clause Required
A ticket, having on its face only the words ‘Dublin and Whitehaven’, was given to a passenger who, without looking at it, paid for it and went on board. Having lost all his luggage he brought an action against the company. The company pleaded that, . .
Cited – Hall v Brooklands Auto Racing Club CA 1933
The organisers of a racing circuit were not liable for personal injuries suffered when a racing car leapt the barriers and crashed into the crowd, having taken reasonable precautions to prevent such events.
Lord Justice Scrutton said: ‘What is . .
Cited – Hornsell v Smyth 1860
When a person took a short cut across a piece of land: ‘He must take the permission with its concomitant conditions, and, it may be, perils’ . .
Cited – Latham v R Johnson and Nephew Ltd CA 12-Dec-1912
The defendants were owners of a plot of unfenced waste land from which old houses had been cleared. It did not adjoin any public highway, but was accessible by a path leading from the back of the house in which the plaintiff, a child between two and . .
Cited – Hood v Anchor Line (Henderson Bros) Ltd HL 1-Jul-1918
An English court may exercise its jurisdiction in personam over the liquidator to enforce the contract between the chargee and the company, and may require the liquidator to pay the proceeds to the chargee, The Scottish courts did not recognise the . .
Cited – Slater v Clay Cross Co Ltd 1956
The plaintiff was injured walking down a narrow railway tunnel. The tunnel had been regularly used by locals as a short cut.
Held: Though there was a risk in doing so, that did not mean that she had accepted also the risk that the train driver . .
Crticised – Asdown v Williams 1957
People regularly took a short cut over the defendants’ land. There was no contract by which they entered. They just walked across the land. The defendants put up notices which were clearly visible to all of them. The notices told these bare . .
Cited – Hollier v Rambler Motors (AMC) Ltd CA 19-Nov-1971
The plaintiff left his car with the defendant garage for repair. Whilst there it was substantially damaged by fire. The defendant sought to rely upon their terms which would negative liability, saying that the terms had been incorporated by . .
Cited – Wooldridge v Sumner and Another CA 4-Jun-1962
The plaintiff photographer was injured when attending a show jumping competition at the White City Stadium. A horse caught him as it passed.
Held: The defendant’s appeal against the finding of negligence succeeded: ‘a competitor or player . .
Cited – Nettleship v Weston CA 30-Jun-1971
The plaintiff gave a friend’s wife driving lessons. An experienced driver himself, he checked her insurance first. The learner crashed into a lamp-post, and he was injured. She was convicted of careless driving, and he sought damages. The judge held . .
Cited – Roles v Nathan CA 15-May-1963
Two chimney sweeps were overcome by fumes, and died in the basement of the Manchester Assembly Rooms. Whilst occupied working in flues (against advice), a boiler had been lit.
Held: (Majority – Pearson LJ dissenting) The land-owner’s appeal . .
Cited – Dann v Hamilton 1939
The maxim volenti non fit injuria, which originates from Roman law, is a notorious source of confusion. The court doubted whether the maxim ever could apply to license in advance a subsequent act of negligence, for if the consent precedes the act of . .
Cited – Letang v Ottawa Electric Railway Co 1926
To accept a plea of non fit injuria, there has to be a finding that the plaintiff freely and voluntarily, with full knowledge of the nature and extent of the risk he ran, impliedly agreed to incur it. . .
Cited – Osborne v London and North Western Railway 1888
Wills J said: ‘If the defendants desire to succeed on the ground that the maxim volenti non fit injuria is applicable, they must obtain a finding of fact that the plaintiff freely and voluntarily, with full knowledge of the nature and extent of the . .
Cited – Winter Garden Theatre (London) Ltd v Millennium Productions Ltd HL 1947
The appellant owner had granted licences to the respondent to use the theatre for productions. After the initial six month’s period, the respondent was to have an option for further licences. The contract made no mention of a termination of that . .
Cited – Ashdown v Samuel Williams and Sons Ltd CA 1957
Employees used a short cut to reach premises occupied by their employer, the second defendants. The short cut crossed various railway lines, on premises belonging to the first defendants. While she was using the short cut, the plaintiff was struck . .
Cited – The Canadian Pacific Railway Company v The King PC 19-Feb-1931
(Canada) ‘Whether any and what restrictions exist on the power of a licensor to determine a revocable licence must, there Lordships think, depend upon the circumstances of each case.’
A licencee whose licence is revocable is entitled to . .
Cited – Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd v Shatwell HL 6-Jul-1964
The respondent was employed as a shot firer in a quarry, and was to test the electric wiring connecting explosive charges. Contrary to instructions that testing must be done from a shelter, the respondent and another shot firer carried out a test in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Personal Injury, Contract
Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.262753
