ABSTRACT
With void contracts, the point is less easy. Ex hypothesi, a party to a void contract cannot say that he contracted to pay a limited sum and no more: on the contrary; he never entered into any contract at all. And, indeed, the English Court of Appeal has now decisively accepted that this point precludes any ‘contract price cap’. In Rover International Ltd v Cannon Film Sales Ltd (No 3),44 referred to above, film distributors took certain films from C pursuant to a supposed contract (which was, in the event, entirely ineffective) whereby they would distribute them under a profit-sharing arrangement. After a few films had been distributed, the defect in the contract was discovered, and it was accepted that Rover had a claim for what they had done. It was held that, in deciding how much they were entitled to, no limit should be set by reference to
40 For a case where de facto restitutionary recovery for such benefits was granted as part of the rescission process, see, eg, O’Sullivan v Management Agency and Music Ltd [1985] QB 428.
