The collection
Cases
Landmark and modern judgments, distilled to facts, issues, judgement and significance — 67 summaries across 7 pages.
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Roscorla v Thomas [1842] 3 QB 234
The foundational authority that past consideration is no consideration: a promise made after a completed transaction is generally unenforceable.
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Smith v Hughes [1871] LR 6 QB 597
The foundational authority for the objective theory of agreement — contracts are judged by how a reasonable person would read the parties’ words and conduct.
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Stevenson Jacques and Co v McLean [1880] 5 QBD 346
Distinguishing a counter-offer (which destroys the offer) from a mere request for information (which does not) in the law of offer and acceptance.
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TRW Ltd v Panasonic Industry Europe GmbH [2021] EWCA Civ 1558
A leading “battle of the forms” authority showing the “last shot” does not always win — a signed framework can let the “first shot” prevail.
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Page v Smith [1995] UKHL 7
The leading authority on primary victims: where physical injury was foreseeable, a duty is owed for psychiatric harm even if no physical injury occurs.
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Smith v Eric S Bush [1990] UKHL 1
A surveyor owes a duty to a homebuyer who relies on a mortgage valuation, and a disclaimer must pass the UCTA reasonableness test to be effective.
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Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1991] UKHL 5, [1992] 1 AC 310
The foundational authority for the “control mechanisms” limiting when a secondary victim can recover for psychiatric harm.
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Armitage v Nurse [1998] Ch 241
The leading authority on trustee exemption clauses — a clause can exclude liability for gross negligence, leaving only an “irreducible core” of honesty and good faith.
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Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd [1964] AC 465
The landmark decision establishing that pure economic loss caused by a negligent misstatement can be recovered where a special relationship exists.
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McLoughlin v O’Brian [1983] 1 AC 410
The House of Lords establishes the “immediate aftermath” rule, allowing a secondary victim who did not witness the accident itself to recover.