Household Fire and Carriage Accident Insurance Co Ltd v Grant (1879) 4 Ex D 216
Citation:Household Fire and Carriage Accident Insurance Co Ltd v Grant (1879) 4 Ex D 216
Link to case on WorldLII (reference).
Rule of thumb:What is the foundation of contract law? The foundation and spirit of contract law is ‘meeting of the minds’ – all other principles & concepts within it branch off from this.
Judgment:
The Court in this case held that there is a general principle of consensus in idem, meeting of the minds, which is an important foundational principle upon the whole of contract law, which sets the mindset of the field. There should basically be a clear idea of what people have agreed and if there is no basically clear idea of what people have agreed then there should be no contract, ‘Now, whatever in abstract discussion may be said as to the legal notion of its being necessary, in order to the effecting of a valid and binding contract, that the minds of the parties should be brought together at one and the same moment, that notion is practically the foundation of English law upon the subject of the formation of contracts’, Thesiger LJ
Ratio-decidendi:
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.