Case Summaries
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Edwards v Skyways Ltd
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
An airline company in financial difficulties was making a number of its pilots redundant. The airline company agreed with the British Airline Pilots Association to pay each pilot an ‘ex gratia payment’ equivalent to the company’s contribution to the pension fund, upon being made redundant....
Letang v Cooper - 1965
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
In the summer of 1957, the claimant was sunbathing outside on a piece of land which ordinarily served as a car park. While she was sunbathing, the Defendant reversed over her legs with his car, causing her injury....
With v O’Flanagan - 1936
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The claimant entered into negotiations with the defendant for the purchase of the defendant’s medical practice. During the negotiations, the defendant represented to the claimant that the practice took in around £2,000 per year....
Hochster v De La Tour - 1853
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
Award of damages for anticipatory breach of contract.. De La Tour concluded an agreement to employ Mr. Hochster to act as a courier and travel with him in Europe on 1 June 1852....
Sayers v Harlow Urban DC
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The plaintiff visited a public lavatory, owned by the defendant – a local authority. She locked the door, but when she tried to get out, she could not as the lock was stuck. The plaintiff unsuccessfully tried to attract attention for 15 minutes....
McRae v Commonwealth Disposals Commission
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The complainant, McRae, won a tender from the defendants, Commonwealth Disposals Commission, to retrieve an oil tanker that was on Jourmaund Reef near Samarai. However, when the complainant went to the location, after laying out significant expenses for the salvage, they discovered that in fact there was no oil tanker....
Scott v London St Katherine’s Dock
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The claimant was a dockworker who was injured when large, heavy bags of sugar fell from the defendant’s crane and hit him. The claimant sued the defendant in the tort of negligence....
Bratty v AG for Northern Ireland
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
Failure to discharge onus of proof in relation to defence of automatism. The appellant (B) was convicted of the murder of an 18-year-old girl. In his statement to the police, he said that he had been overcome with a “terrible feeling” and a “sort of blackness” during the event....
Smith v Eric S Bush - 1990
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
Reasonableness of exemption clauses for surveyor reports. The Defendant, Eric Bush was a surveyor who was employed by Abbey National to assess the value of a property which was to be purchased by the Claimant, Mrs Smith....
R v Morris - 1983
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The defendants were convicted of theft under s.1 of the Theft Act 1968 after switching the labels on products in a supermarket to obtain a lower price. One of the defendants was caught before he paid, while the other was only caught afterwards....
Grainger & Son v Gough 1896
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The defendant wine merchant circulated a catalogue which contained a price list for its products. The claimant ordered a number of bottles of wine from the catalogue and, when the defendant refused to deliver these at the stated price, alleged that a contract had been formed....
R v Bateman - Case Summary
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
Whether level of negligence amounted to gross negligence to warrant criminal liability.. A qualified medical practitioner was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter arising out of the delivery of a patient in child birth, Ms. Harding....
White & Carter v McGregor - 1962
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
White & Carter, the appellants, were advertising contractors that agreed with a representative of a garage proprietor to advertise for his garage for the period of three years. The respondent, the garage owner, wrote to the appellant on the same day of the agreement to cancel as the representative was mistaken during the negotiation....
Harvela v Royal Trust
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The first defendant held shares in company. By means of a telex communication they invited the claimant and the second defendant to make an offer to purchase shares by sealed tender....
R v Ireland and Burstow
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
Can psychiatric injury be considered bodily harm, and whether ‘inflicted’ ought be interpreted as requiring physical force. The defendant and victim were engaged in a short romantic relationship, which the victim ended. ...
Cassidy v Ministry of Health 1951
Example case summary. Last modified: 4th Oct 2021
The claimant was a patient at a hospital run by the defendant who required routine treatment to set the bones in his wrist. Due to negligence on the part of one of the doctors, the operation caused his fingers to become stiff. ...
Caldwell v Maguire
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
The claimant was a professional jockey. He sustained severe injuries due to manoeuvres from two other jockeys a left turn in a race, which a later internal investigation by the Jockey Club deemed to be careless and against the rules. ...
Musgrove v Pandelis
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
The Claimant rented rooms above a domestic garage in which the Defendant kept a car. The Defendant’s employee (his chauffeur) was instructed to clean the car and attempted to move it in order to carry out that instruction....
R v Bailey - 1983
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
Self-induced automatism defence unavailable to diabetic convicted of wounding with intent. The appellant (B) was convicted of wounding with intent. He claimed the defence of automatism caused by hypoglaecemia as a result of failing to take food after a dose of insulin....
Rookes v Barnard - 1964
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
The claimant was a skilled draughtsman and employee of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), resigned his membership of the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (AESD), a registered trade union....
R v Martin - 2001
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
Martin had shot two people that were trying to burgle his home. He killed one of them and wounded the other. At the initial trial, Martin attempted to claim self-defence but was unsuccessful....
Savage and Parmenter
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
The foreseeability of the level of physical harm and subjective intent required for the crime of grievous bodily harm. In the first case, Ms. Savage threw beer over her husband’s ex-girlfriend in a bar. ...
Barclays Bank v O’Brien
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
Fraud; misrepresentation; mortgage; married couple. The defendants were a married couple who took out a second mortgage on their home as security for overdraft facilities extended by Barclays to the husband’s company....
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
The defendant was the body who employed a doctor who had not given a mentally-ill patient (the claimant) muscle-relaxant drugs nor restrained them prior to giving them electro-convulsive therapy....
Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority
Example case summary. Last modified: 1st Oct 2021
A child was brought to a hospital suffering from breathing abnormalities. The doctor summoned to deal with the matter never received the summons due to a low battery on her bleep....
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