Ratio Decidendi
An exclusion clause on a receipt or ticket may not be incorporated into the contract if the ticket is not reasonably regarded as a contractual document but merely as a receipt or voucher.
ਤੱਥ
The plaintiff hired a deck chair from a pile on the beach for 2d. He received a ticket which he put in his pocket without reading. The ticket contained an exclusion clause. The chair collapsed and injured him.
ਫੈਸਲੇ ਦਾ ਸਾਰ
The Court of Appeal held that the ticket was a mere receipt for the money paid and not a document that a reasonable person would expect to contain contractual terms, so the exclusion clause printed on it was not incorporated into the contract of hire. The chairs were stacked beside a notice inviting the public to hire them and obtain tickets; the contract was complete when Chapelton took a chair, and the ticket handed to him afterwards was simply evidence of payment. Slesser LJ held that no reasonable person would expect to find, on a receipt for the hire of a deck chair for a few pence, conditions excluding liability for the safety of the chair. Because the clause was not part of the contract, the council could not rely on it and was liable for the injuries caused when the defective chair collapsed. The case is a leading authority on which documents can carry contractual terms.
ਮੁੱਖ ਹਵਾਲੇ
"No reasonable man would expect to find conditions relating to the safety of a chair on a receipt for 2d. for the hire of a deck chair."
— Slesser LJ
ਬਾਅਦ ਦਾ ਇਲਾਜ
Important authority on incorporation of exclusion clauses. Distinguished from Parker v South Eastern Railway [1877] where a ticket was a contractual document.
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