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19 June 2008 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7326 / Categories: Features , Civil way
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Civil way: 20 June 2008

Wishy-washy contracts the cohabitation splits the unilateral notice to quit new domestic violence PD

BEWARE THE KILLER

Uncertainty of terms. It is a killer. It killed in Lee-Parker v Izzet (No 2) [1972] 2 All ER 800. In that case, there was an agreement for the sale of a house “subject to the purchaser obtaining a satisfactory mortgage”. Mr Justice Goulding held that this was a condition precedent to the existence of a binding contract and that it was void for uncertainty. “Everything is at large, not only matters like the rate of interest and the ancillary obligations on which evidence might establish what would be usual or reasonable, but also those two most essential points—the amount of the loan and the terms of repayment.”

And in Schweppe v Harper [2008] All ER (D) 311 (May) the parties made an oral agreement that if the claimant obtained third party finance which led to the defendant obtaining an annulment of his bankruptcy then the defendant would pay the claimant £50,000. But the terms

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

NEWS
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
The High Court has upheld a rare successful serious-irregularity challenge after an arbitrator relied on an implied term neither party had advanced
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