was marginally thicker than half an inch. The defendants sought to reject the whole delivery, despite the fact that the thicker staves were perfectly suited to their requirements. Nonetheless, the House of Lords held that there had been a breach of s 13 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893, which implied a condition that goods supplied were to comply with any description given of them. Accordingly, as there was a breach of condition, the buyers were entitled to reject. Such an approach would not necessarily succeed today, since there have been amendments to the Sale of Goods Act 1979 which allow the court to disregard the normal consequences of a breach of condition where it would be unreasonable to allow the buyer to activate his right to reject: Sale of Goods Act 1979

doi:10.4324/9781843141518-216

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was marginally thicker than half an inch. The defendants sought to reject the whole delivery, despite the fact that the thicker staves were perfectly suited to their requirements. Nonetheless, the House of Lords held that there had been a breach of s 13 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893, which implied a condition that goods supplied were to comply with any description given of them. Accordingly, as there was a breach of condition, the buyers were entitled to reject. Such an approach would not necessarily succeed today, since there have been amendments to the Sale of Goods Act 1979 which allow the court to disregard the normal consequences of a breach of condition where it would be unreasonable to allow the buyer to activate his right to reject: Sale of Goods Act 1979

ABSTRACT

Megaw LJ: I reach that conclusion for four interrelated reasons. First, it tends towards certainty in the law. One of the essential elements of law is some measure of uniformity. One of the important elements of the law is predictability. At any rate, in commercial law, there are obvious and substantial advantages in having, where possible, a firm and definite rule for a

particular class of legal relationship, for example, as here, the legal categorisation of a particular definable type of contractual clause in common use. It is surely much better, both for shipowners and charterers (and incidentally, for their advisers) when a contractual obligation of this nature is under consideration, and still more when they are faced with the necessity for an urgent decision as to the effects of a suspected breach of it, be able to say categorically: ‘If a breach is proved, then the charterer can put an end to the contract’, rather than that they should be left to ponder whether or not the courts would be likely, in the particular case, when the evidence has been heard, to decide that in the particular circumstances the breach was or was not such as to go to the root of the contract. Where justice does not demand greater flexibility, there is everything to be said for, and nothing against, a degree of rigidity in legal principle.