Special importance placed on the issue by the representee
A representee may make a special enquiry about an aspect of the
negotiations, or make it clear that a particular fact is important. The enquiry
may well be influential in having this issue considered a term of the contract.
Distance of time between statement and contract
This may be significant, but it must be a matter of circumstances and
reasonableness. If a statement was made a long time before the contract
was formed, it is less likely to be considered a contractual term.
96 Contract law
Oscar Chess v Williams (1957)
The plaintiff sold his Morris car to the defendant car dealer. The
registration document stated that the car was a 1948 model, but it was
later found to be a 1939 model, for which the dealer had paid more than
he would have done had he known the real age. However, it was held
that the age was not a term of the contract, since the car dealer who was
the buyer had the skill and experience to put him in a position to know
the real age of the vehicle.Dick Bentley Productions Ltd v Harold Smith (Motors) Ltd (1965)
A dealer sold a car to a customer which was stated to have done 20,000
miles when it had really done 100,000. This was held to be a term of
the contract because the dealer was in a position to know whether the
mileage was accurate.Why would the courts hold a car dealer more responsible than an individual
for statements made about a car?Bannerman v White (1861)
Because a buyer particularly asked if some hops had been treated with
sulphur, this was taken to be a term of the contract of sale. When the
hops were later found to have been treated with sulphur the buyer was
entitled to repudiate the contract.Routledge v McKay (1954)
Statements made about a motor-cycle over a week before the sale were
held not to be terms of the contract of sale.