My leisure interests

Martial arts Heritage railways Garden railways Motorcycles DIY

Downloads

Linux downloads Windows downloads Java downloads Perl downloads Home automation downloads

About me

Home & family My CV

Site info

Contact the author Download policy Keyword index

Harbutt's Plasticine v Wayne Tank (1970)

Last modified: Thu Feb 23 16:37:37 2006

This case (Harbutt's Plasiticine v Wayne Tank [1970] 1 QB 447) founded the principle (now not widely used) that an ExclusionClause was invalidated by a significant breach of contract. Harbutt's contracted Wayne Tank to build a storage facility for hot liquids; the pipework was constructed of inappropriate material which melted on the first use, set fire to the plant, and burned it to the ground. Wayne Tank tried to rely on a clause limiting its liability, and which the plaintiffs had acknowledged on signing the contract. Denning LJ ruled that the defendants had breach the contract so significantly that it was effectively void; therefore the exclusion clause -- like the rest of the contract -- did not exist. Therefore the defendents owed the usual common law duty of care to the defendents, which they negligently discharged.

Denning's opposition to exclusion clauses was well-known, and this case was widely cited in support of unfair exclusions. However, it was overruled by the House of Lords in , and the law remains that if two organizations of equal bargainging power enter into a contract, they must remain bound by its terms even if one of them breaches the contract (see: PhotoProductionsVSecuricorLtd1980).

CaseLaw

Law glossary index

Shameless plug

By the author of this site. Buy on-line from Amazon USA | UK

Editorial

So you want to be a university lecturer? Read this first! Speak like your boss: new developments in managerese

Computing features

File handling in the Linux kernel: an in-depth look at how Linux handles files, filesystems, and file I/O All sorts of Linux stuff Confused about CLASSPATH? answers are here First steps in EJB using jBoss (recently revised for jBoss 3.2)