Mendelssohn v Normand Ltd [1970] 1 QB 177
Incorporation of exclusion clause by notice or sign
Facts
The Claimant parked in a garage owned and operated by the Defendant. There was a notice board in the car park which stipulated that the Defendant would ‘accept no liability for any loss of damage sustained by the vehicle, its accessories or contents howsoever caused’. This board was not obvious for drivers who drove into the car park but was obvious when the driver would exit the vehicle and go to pay for the parking. In addition, the Claimant had previously parked in the same garage. In this instance, an employee of the Defendant insisted that the Claimant should leave his car unlocked and assured the Claimant that he would lock it. However, valuables were subsequently stolen from the claimant’s car.
Issue
The issue in this case was whether an exclusion clause could be successfully incorporated into a contract by way of a notice board if the notice board was not visible when a client was entering the car park, but was visible at the end when they went to pay for parking.
Decision/Outcome
The court held in favour of the Claimant, observing that the Defendant had not done enough to bring the notice to the attention of his customers so as to successfully incorporate it into a contract with the Claimant.
“He may have seen the notice, but he had never read it. Such a notice is not imported into the contract unless it is brought home to the party so prominently that he must be taken to have known of it and agreed with it.” (Lord Denning)
Updated 19 March 2026
This article accurately summarises the facts, issue, and outcome of Mendelssohn v Normand Ltd [1970] 1 QB 177 and correctly states the principle that an exclusion clause must be sufficiently brought to a party’s attention to be incorporated into a contract. The case remains good law and continues to be cited as an illustration of the notice requirement for incorporation of exclusion clauses.
Readers should be aware that this area of law is now significantly overlaid by statute. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 introduced important controls on exclusion clauses in business-to-consumer and business-to-business contracts, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 replaced much of the 1977 Act’s consumer provisions, introducing a fairness test for consumer contracts. These statutory frameworks operate alongside the common law rules on incorporation illustrated in this case. The article does not address those statutory developments, so students should treat it as authority on the common law incorporation point only.
