ABSTRACT
[11.01] Pre-contractual statements. In the course of the negotiations which precede a contract, it is common for the parties to make some statements either by words or conduct, or occasionally by silence. Sometimes those statements are of no legal significance to that contract, as where the ‘statement’ says nothing of relevance or is not intended seriously (mere puffs: see para 8.05 ); but at other times they may amount to representations—statements of fact inducing the contract. 1 Perhaps even more potent than words in selling to consumers is pictures. Suppose a misleading picture, e.g. an advertisement for a pictured car in untrue colour/shade, the eye being distracted by the human model draped over it, or the computer-enhanced representation of goods in a catalogue, as where a plant has an increased number of flower-heads.
