Beale v Taylor
Goods are sold by description even if the buyer has seen them, where he relied on a description of them that was not true.
Facts
Mr Taylor advertised a car for sale as a Herald convertible, white, 1961, Twin Carbs. Mr Beale went to see it, and saw a badge on the back reading 1200. He bought it. It turned out that the car was made up of two cars welded together, the back half of a 1961 Herald 1200 and the front half of an earlier model, and it was unroadworthy. Mr Beale sued for breach of the implied condition that the car would correspond with its description.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal held that Mr Taylor was liable. Sellers LJ said that the sale was by description, even though Mr Beale had seen the car, because he had relied on the description of the car as a 1961 Herald convertible, both in the advertisement and on the badge, which was part of the contract. The car did not correspond with that description, because only half of it was a 1961 model. A sale of goods can be by description even though the buyer inspects the goods, if he relies on the description.
Related cases on implied terms: title, description, quality and fitness
- Arcos Ltd v EA Ronaasen & Son [1933] AC 470
- Ashington Piggeries Ltd v Christopher Hill Ltd [1972] AC 441
- Aswan Engineering Establishment Co v Lupdine Ltd [1987] 1 WLR 1
- Grant v Australian Knitting Mills Ltd [1936] AC 85
- Griffiths v Peter Conway Ltd [1939] 1 All ER 685
- Harlingdon & Leinster Enterprises Ltd v Christopher Hull Fine Art Ltd [1991] 1 QB 564
- Henry Kendall & Sons v William Lillico & Sons Ltd [1969] 2 AC 31
- Jewson Ltd v Boyhan [2003] EWCA Civ 1030
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