Case Summaries

Title: May and Butcher Ltd v The King
Example case summary. Last modified: 8th Sep 2021
Introduction: Contract – Certainty – Enforceability – Agreement to Agree. After the end of the First World War, the Government had a surplus of tents which were no longer required by the army. As a result, the Government’s disposal’s board was set up to sell these tents....

Title: R v Williams and Davies - 1992
Example case summary. Last modified: 8th Sep 2021
Introduction: Unlawful Act Manslaughter – Causation – Eggshell Skull Rule. The defendants picked up a hitchhiker who was on his way to Glastonbury festival.  The defendants then attempted to rob the victim who became agitated and afraid and in this mental state jumped out of the moving vehicle....

Title: Family Law: Divorce Case Summaries
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Family Law: Divorce. A marriage may come to an end in various ways, the most common of which is still the death of one partner. A decree of nullity in the case of a void marriage is evidence that there was never a valid......

Title: Murray v Ministry of Defence - 1988
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Tort; false imprisonment; detention of suspect; arrest. Margaret Murray, M, was a suspect of aiding IRA, a prohibited organisation in Northern Ireland. D and five soldiers arrived at M’s house to arrest M at 7a...

Title: Robinson v Kilvert - 1889
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Nuisance – Sensitivity of the Claimant. The defendants operated a factory which made paper boxes.  This required the factory to be continually warm and dry to ensure that the paper boxes were in good condition....

Title: Tsakiroglou & Co Ltd v Noblee Thorl
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: CONTRACT, OBSTACLES TO PERFORMING THE CONTRACT, FORCE MAJEURE, CIF CONTRACT, DUTY TO SHIP BY CUSTOMARY ROUTE, SALE OF GOODS, FRUSTRATION OF CONTRACT, IMPLIED TERMS...

Title: Case Summaries on Burglary
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Criminal law case summaries covering and burglary and aggravated burglary. R v Brown - A witness, having heard the sound of breaking glass, saw the defendant partially inside a shop front display. ...

Title: Marc Rich v Bishop Rock
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: The requirements for the existence of a duty of care. During a voyage a ship developed a crack in its hull. The ships owners requested its classification society to inspect the damage....

Title: Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green (No. 1)
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: It is not fraud to rely upon rights conferred by statute. A father granted his son, Green, an option to purchase a farm. The option was not registered on the Register of Title....

Title: Antonaides v Villiers [1990]
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Occupiers signed agreement expressly stated to be a license; whether agreement a sham. Mr Villiers and his partner signed separate but identical agreements to occupy a one bedroom flat owned by Mr Antonaides, where they would live as husband and wife....

Title: Moncrieff v Jamieson
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Easements and ancillary rights between dominant and servient tenements. The case was an appeal against an earlier case which had ruled that where one had a right of vehicular access from a public road, this also meant that they had a right to park on the servient tenement....

Title: Hollywood Silver Fox Farm v Emmett
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Private Nuisance – Unusual Sensitivity of the Claimant – Malice. The claimant bred silver foxes for their fur. The foxes are, by their nature, of a timid disposition and are easily scared. When they are scared they are......

Title: R v G 2004 - Recklessness
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: The test for recklessness after MPC v Caldwell. The two appellants were boys aged 11 and 12 respectively. They went camping at night unsupervised (and in fact without parental permission)....

Title: R v Lowe - 1973
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: The connection between “wilful neglect” under s.1(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and manslaughter by negligence. Mr Lowe, of low intelligence, did not call a doctor to his sick infant child. The child died from dehydration and gross emaciation....

Title: Dubai Aluminium v Salaam
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: A solicitor firm’s vicarious liability for a partner’s dishonest assistance to a client. The senior partner of a firm drafted a consultancy agreement and other requisite documentation for a client’s fraudulent enterprise....

Title: Patel v Mirza [2016]
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Resulting trusts and illegality; insider dealing and unjust enrichment. Patel had given Mirza £620,000 to bet on shares in a company using inside information. The agreement between them amounted to a conspiracy to commit the offence of insider dealing contrary to s53 Criminal Justice Act 1993....

Title: Yanner v Eaton [1999]
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: AUSTRALIAN LAW – SUBJECT-MATTER OF PROPERTY – WHAT IS A PROPERTY RIGHT. The appellant was an indigenous hunter who killed two animals in a creek for his own consumption....

Title: Knightley v Johns - 1982
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Law of Tort – Novus Actus Interveniens – Damage – Remoteness of Damage – Causation. Mr Johns was driving negligently and this resulted in a crash where his car overturned near the exit of a tunnel....

Title: Robbery Case Summaries
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Robbery. A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force....

Title: Smith v Littlewoods - [1987]
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: NEGLIGENCE, DUTY OF CARE, VANDALISM, FIRE STARTED BY VANDALS, OCCUPIERS OF THE ADJOINING PREMISES, LIABILITY OF OCCUPIERS. The defendant purchased a disused cinema with the intention of turning it into a supermarket....

Title: Kepong Prospecting v Schmidt
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Contract law – International agreements – Formation of contract. T agreed with Schmidt in writing, that in consideration for Schmidt’s assistance to obtain a permit and start mining operations, T would pay Schmidt 1% of the price that all ore from the land was sold at....

Title: Cork v Kirby Maclean
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: TORT – NEGLIGENCE – CAUSATION. In this case, had appropriate railings been installed, the claimant would not have not fallen off the platform while having the seizure....

Title: Manchester Diocesan Council v Commercial and General Investments
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Contract – Agreement – Acceptance – Offer – Post – Address – Valid Contract. The defendants argued that the time they had received the correct acceptance document, the offer had lapsed....

Title: Lister v Romford Ice - 1957
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Tort law – Contract of service – Vicarious liability. The defendant was a lorry driver who was employed by the plaintiffs to drive their lorry to a slaughterhouse in order to collect waste....

Title: Williams v Hensman
Example case summary. Last modified: 7th Sep 2021
Introduction: Co-Ownership – Severance – Modes of Severance of Joint Tenancy. A fund of money had been bequeathed by a mother, on trust for eight children to be invested in order to create an income that would then be payable to her children on the mother’s death....