Ratio Decidendi
The display of goods in a shop window with a price tag is an invitation to treat, not an offer. A shopkeeper who displays a flick knife in his window is not 'offering it for sale' within the meaning of the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959.
Facts
A shopkeeper displayed a flick knife in his shop window with a price tag. He was charged under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, s.1(1), which made it an offence to 'offer for sale' certain offensive weapons. The question was whether the display constituted an 'offer for sale'.
Judgment Summary
Lord Parker CJ, applying the established contract law distinction between an offer and an invitation to treat, held that the display of goods in a shop window is not an offer but merely an invitation to treat. Since no offer had been made, the shopkeeper had not 'offered the knife for sale' and was acquitted. Parliament subsequently amended the legislation to cover 'exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale'.
Key Quotes
"It is clear that, according to the ordinary law of contract, the display of an article with a price on it in a shop window is merely an invitation to treat. It is in no sense an offer for sale the acceptance of which constitutes a contract."
— Lord Parker CJ
Subsequent Treatment
Consistently applied as authority for the principle that display of goods is an invitation to treat. A staple of contract law teaching alongside Pharmaceutical Society v Boots [1953].