really mean to be bound, but not others? One important difference between
Rose and Frank v Crompton and Carlill may be that when one party is a
consumer there is a greater need to give protection to the expectations of
that party. This argument has a lot of merit, and is certainly in line with the
bulk of statutory protection now given to consumers.
In the case of Esso v Commissioners of Customs and Excise, seen earlier, the
courts were willing to find that legal intent existed between a consumer and
Esso, even over something as trivial as a ‘free’ metal coin with hardly any
monetary value. This is fair, since the consumer would certainly have
expected to receive a coin, and if the ‘free’ item was worth more in monetary
terms, it would be important the agreement was enforceable legally.
However, there are examples to be found of such honorary pledge clauses
which have been upheld, even against a consumer. When pools coupons are
completed, for example, ready for entry into the pools competition, it is likely
that the consumer really believes that, should the form contain a winning
entry, the law will generally enforce payment. In most cases, however, the
coupon will contain a clause which allows the pools company to refuse to
honour the agreement. The cases of Jones v Vernons Pools (1938) and
Appleson v Littlewoods(1939) are both situations where the pools company
refused to pay and the claimants were unable to enforce payment via the
courts. More recently, and somewhat surprisingly, these decisions were
reinforced in the case ofHalloway v Cuozzo(1999).
The following is a typical honourable pledge clause found in a football
pools coupon, and it is often written in very small print at the end of a form.
Legal intent 73Imagine shopping for a new video recorder, and in the High Street you notice
that two shops have the same model advertised. In one of them the price is
slightly higher than the other, but the shop with the higher price also says in
the shop window that a portable television will be given ‘free’ with each video
recorder purchased.Would you be willing to buy your video recorder from this
shop, if you knew that there was little chance of obtaining the television?Figure 4.1