Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of LawTeacher.net. Any information contained in this case summary does not constitute legal advice and should be treated as educational content only.

Parker v South Eastern Railway

312 words (1 pages) Case Summary

29th Sep 2021 Case Summary Reference this In-house law team

Jurisdiction / Tag(s): UK Law

Legal Case Summary

Parker v South Eastern Railway (1877) 2 CPD 416

Deposit of bag in railway cloak room; effect of exclusion clause on ticket and on notice

Facts

Parker paid to leave his bag in the cloakroom of South Eastern Railway (SER). There was a notice within the cloakroom stating that SER would not be responsible for any deposits exceeding £10. in value. The tickets given to customers on making their deposit had the same notice printed on them in legible writing. Parker’s bag exceeded 10l. in value and it was lost or stolen. Parker successfully claimed against SER for his lost bag and SER appealed.

Issues

Parker argued he had not seen the notice in the cloak room and had not read the terms on the ticket, but had simply placed it into his pocket believing it to be a mere receipt for his deposited goods. As such, SER should not be able to rely on the exclusion clause because it would be unreasonable to expect customers to know that a receipt for deposited goods contains special conditions. SER claimed it was irrelevant whether Parker had read the notice or the ticket, because a party could still be bound by a contract irrespective of whether he had read its terms. They argued they had taken sufficient steps to bring the terms to customers’ attention.

Decision/Outcome

A re-trial was ordered. The judge’s direction at first instance that Parker was not bound by terms he had failed to read was incorrect. Parker would not be bound by terms he did not know were printed on the ticket, but where he knew there were terms on the ticket, or that there was writing on the ticket, he would be bound providing the jury were satisfied he had been given sufficient notice.

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:

Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.

Related Services

View all

Related Content

Jurisdictions / Tags

Content relating to: "UK Law"

UK law covers the laws and legislation of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Essays, case summaries, problem questions and dissertations here are relevant to law students from the United Kingdom and Great Britain, as well as students wishing to learn more about the UK legal system from overseas.

Related Articles