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A man whose leg was injured in a car accident and
who was later shot in the same leg by armed robbers
with the result that the leg had to be amputated was
entitled to recover the same damages against the negli
gent car driver as he would have had if there had been
no supervening injury.
House of Lords 26/11/69 Baker v. Willoughby.
Where plaintiffs are insured against a form of risk
which in fact happens through breach of contract by
defendants and receive insurance moneys under their
policy, the court, in exercising its discretion to award
interest to successful plaintiffs for the period after the
occurrence during which they are kept out of their
money, should "temper the wind to the shorn lamb" and
not award interest for any period after the insurance
moneys have been paid.
Ct. of Appeal 8/12/69 Harbutt's Plasticine Ltd. v. Wayne
Tank and Pump Company Ltd.
Landlord and tenant
Failure by the landlord of a weekly tenant to provide
his tenant with a rent book containing the information
required by the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1962, does
not preclude him from recovering the rent.
Ct. of Appeal 5/12/69 Shaw v. Groom.
A husband and wife may each have a "main residence"
for the purposes of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967,
which gives a tenant who is occupying a leasehold house
"as his only or main residence" and who satisfies the
other conditions in the Act the right to buy the freehold
or get an extension of the lease for a further 50 years.
Ct. of Appeal Powell v. Radford and others.
Licensing
A licensed bookmaker who exhibits a sign "Turf ac
countant" in the inside of the window of a betting office
facing on to the street is not guilty of exhibiting a sign
"inside the licensed premises" contrary to regulation 3
of the Betting (Licensed Offices) Regulations 1960. The
Court held that there was a lacuna in the law.
Q.B.D. 4/11/69 Dunsford v. Pearson
When justices consider an application for a licence
under section 51 of the Public Health Acts Amendment
Act, 1890, for proprietary club premises to be used for
"public dancing or music",
they do not have to be
satisfied that the premises are going to be used for
public dancing or music before they grant the licence.
Q.B.D. 10/12/69 Beynon and another v. Caerphilly
Licensing Justices.
Negligence
A school authority was negligant in releasing a class
of five-year-olds five minutes before the appointed clos
ing time for an afternoon session and liable in damages,
agreed at £10,000 for a foreseeable accident to a girl
who, finding that her mother was not waiting for her
at the school gate, set out for home in her own, reached
a busy road, and, in attempting to cross it through the
traffic, was knocked down by a lorry.
House of Lords Barnes (an Infant) v. Hampshire County
Council.
An explosion which occurred when an ampoule con
taining a chemical was dropped into a sink of water,
killing a man and causing £74,000 worth of damage,
was held to have been a foreseeable consequence of sel
ling
the chemical, boron
tribromide, without express
warning involved on its contact with water.
Q.B.D. 18/7/69 Vacwell Engineering Co. Ltd. v. B.D.H.
Chemicles Ltd.
Although under the rule in Searle v. Wallbank (1947)
A.C. 341) the owner of a field abutting on a highway
was under no duty to users of the highway to take
reasonable care to prevent animals not known
to be
dangerous from straying on to it. It was decided that if
an animal escaped from a situation in which it was
under direct human control, which was a foreseeable
reaction by
the animal
in
those circumstances,
the
ordinary principles of negligence would apply.
Q.B.D. 14/10/69 Bativala v. West.
When the Ministry of Transport erect road signs under
the Road Traffic Act, 1959, as amended, they owe a
duty to take reasonable care when there are sites equally
good as regards visibility not to select the one which
involves greater hazards to the motorist. The Court re
jected a contention that so long as they erect visible
signs they had no duty to consider hazards to motorists
even if one of two equally visible positions, was more
hazardous than the other.
Ct. of Appeal 9/10/69 Levine and Another v. Morris
and the Ministry of Transport.
By a majority the House of Lords held that the owners
of a lorry which had failed to stop brr,ause of sudden
brake failure could not rely on the defence of a latent
defect unless they proved that there was nothing in the
history of the lorry which should have indicated to them
that some unusual defect might have developed which
would not have been disclosed on normal inspection.
House of Lords 8/10/69 Henderson v. Henry E. Jenkins
and Sons.
The boundary wall of a village school playground,
about 3ft. Bin. high, and built in common form of brick
and flint in 1862, was not "inherently dangerous" such
as to make the educational authority liable in negligence
when an eight-year-old boy taking part in a race up and
down
the playground
shortly before
school began
stumbled, and fell, striking his head against a jagged
flint, and suffering serious head injuries. Nor was the
authority negligent in not supervising the children at
the time, for even if a master had been in the play
ground he would not have been under any duty to stop
the children from racing up and down.
Ct. of Appeal 18/12/69 Ward v. Hertfordshire County
Council.
Partnership
A wife who actively helps her husband in a business
but receives no wages is a partner in a joint enterprise.
Her services are equivalent to a financial contribution
by her, such as to give her a substantive interest in any
property acquired by the proceeds of their joint efforts;
and the courts will give effect to such an interest in
proceedings under section 17 of the Married Women's
Property Act, 1882.
Ct. of Appeal Nixon v. Nixon.
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