I’ve just read the judgment of Smyth J in Finnegan v J&E Davy [2007] IEHC 18 (26 January 2007). A must read for contract students everywhere, for what it says about duress (“hobson’s choice”), exercising contractual discretion especially in awarding bonuses, and restraint of trade.

Update (21 May 2007): I’ve also just read the judgment of Finlay Geoghegan J in Boliden Tara Mines Limited v Cosgrove & Ors [2007] IEHC 60 (09 March 2007). It too is interesting, in part for what it says (albeit in the context of a pension deed rather than a contract) about construction of documents (applying the leading UK case, which has been approved by the Supreme Court in a case not referred to here, though an earlier decision is), the remedy of rectification, and setting aside for (unilateral) mistake.

Update (25 May 2007): I’ve also read the interesting decision of O’Neill J in Flynn v Dermot Kelly Limited & Anor [2007] IEHC 103 (16 March 2007) on the interplay between, on the one hand, the definitions of “consumer”, “consumer-hire agreement”, and “hirer” in section 2 of the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 (also here), and the implied conditions as to quality and fitness of motor vehicles contained in section 13 of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980 (also here; restated here (pdf)).…

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From Jeremy Telman on ContractsProf Blog, a limerick on Taylor v Caldwell (1863) 3 B & S 826, 122 ER 309, [1863] EWHC QB J1 (6 May 1863) (see wikipedia), the decision of Blackburn J which is now regarded as the foundation case of the modern law of frustration of contracts:

This case may be so well known as to need no introduction, but if people are in the market for visual aids, at left are public domain images of the Surrey Music Hall and Gardens, the former of which was the music hall that burnt down in Taylor v. Caldwell.

Since neither this nor the coronation cases are included in the casebook that I use, and since I am usually way behind by the time I get to this subject matter, this is a portion of the course that I teach entirely through Limericks. 

Taylor v. Caldwell

• Taylor rented a hall like the Met’s
  For the purpose of concerts and fetes
  When fire the hall downed,
  The corut wisely found
  A way to excuse Taylor’s debts.

[Jeremy Telman]

An earlier entry in ContractsProf Blog also has links to more on the Royal Surrey Gardens and Surrey Music Hall here (wikipedia) and here, including the image of the interior (left) (see here for images of what’s there now).…

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Over on Lex Ferenda, Daithí has an alarming-sounding post: Postgraduate diploma in Aisle Seven. But this is neither another of the many online fake degrees, nor yet Tesco moving into the education business, selling qualifications next to the chopped tomatoes and pasta. Rather, it is the news that points earned through Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty scheme can now be applied to fees at the Open University. Leaving aside questions about the privacy implications of loyalty card schemes, the power of supermarkets in our society, or even the ubiquity of Tesco, there is a very interesting issue here from the perspective of the Law of Contract.

For there to be a contract, there must be a serious agreement about a price. …

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