Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw [1956] 1 WLR 461
Citation:Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw [1956] 1 WLR 461
Rule of thumb:Can you contract out of fundamental legal obligations at common law? Can a carrier contract out of their duties to deliver the goods carefully? Yes, you can contract out of any legal obligation at common law, however, if there is an extremely onerous term in a contract doing so then this has to be drawn to the other party’s attention – the famous metaphor used by Lord Denning in this case is that a ‘red hand pointing to it’ sometimes has to be used in order for an extremely onerous term to be valid.
Judgment:
‘… A bailor, by pleading and presenting his case properly, can always put on the bailee the burden of proof. In the case of non-delivery, for instance, all he need plead is the contract and a failure to deliver on demand. That puts on the bailee the burden of proving either loss without his fault (which, of course, would be a complete answer at common law) or, if it was due to his fault, it was a fault from which he is excused by the exempting clause…. This brings me to the question whether this clause was part of the contract. Mr. Sofer urged us to hold that the warehousemen did not do what was reasonably sufficient to give notice of the conditions within Parker v. South Eastern Railway Co. I quite agree that the more unreasonable a clause is, the greater the notice which must be given of it. Some clauses which I have seen would need to be printed in red ink on the face of the document with a red hand pointing to it before the notice could be held to be sufficient’, Denning LJ
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.