ABSTRACT
As discussed in Chapter 3, the courts have been prepared to save an agreement from failing on the grounds of uncertainty if the parties’ intention can be ascertained from their previous dealings. For example, in Hillas & Co Ltd v Arcos Ltd,188 the plaintiff agreed to buy from the defendant ‘22,000 standards of softwood goods of fair specification over the season 1930’. The written agreement contained an option to buy 100,000 standards in 1931, but without particulars as to the kind or size of timber or the manner of shipment. No difficulties arose on the original purchase for 1930 but, when the buyers sought to enforce the option for 1931, the defendant alleged that the terms had yet to be agreed and that the provision was only a basis for future agreement. The House of Lords held that the language used, interpreted in the light of the previous course of dealing between the parties, showed a sufficient intention to be bound.
