Ratio Decidendi
A particularly onerous or unusual clause must be fairly and reasonably brought to the other party's attention. The more unusual or onerous the clause, the greater the degree of notice required (the 'red hand' rule).
Hechos
Bradshaw delivered barrels of orange juice to Spurling for storage. Days later he received a 'landing account' document with conditions on the back, including a wide exclusion clause. The barrels were empty when collected.
Resumen de la sentencia
The Court of Appeal held that the exclusion clause had been incorporated through a previous course of dealing between the parties. Denning LJ also stated that some clauses would need a red hand pointing to them to be noticed.
Citas clave
"Some clauses which I have seen would need to be printed in red ink on the face of the document with a red hand pointing to it before the notice could be held to be sufficient."
— Denning LJ
Tratamiento posterior
The 'red hand' rule developed into the principle in Interfoto Picture Library v Stiletto [1989] that particularly onerous clauses need specific notice.