exactly what is a necessary. So to enforce a contract against a minor, it must
be shown that the goods in question are both necessary and actually
required at the time, having regard to the individual situation.
Two examples follow from the same Victorian period as Nash v Inman.
82 Contract law
What purchases could be ‘luxurious articles of utility’ and therefore treated
like necessaries?Peters v Fleming (1840)
An expensive watch-chain was supplied on credit, and it was left to the
jury (which was more usual in civil cases at that time) to decide
whether it was a reasonable purchase for this particular student, and
therefore whether it was a necessary. It was considered reasonable for
a student to have a watch, and therefore a watch-chain was needed.Wharton v MacKenzie (1844)
An undergraduate, this time from Oxford, obtained supplies for dinner
parties. It was held that fruits, ices and confectionery could not be
treated as necessaries without further justification. So the application
of necessaries to a person’s social standing will be a matter of fact on
each occasion.Chapple v Cooper (1844)
Some useful observations were made in this case which give further
guidance on what may amount to a necessary. Alderson B said,Things necessary are those without which an individual cannot
reasonably exist. In the first place, food, raiment, lodging and the
like. About these there is no doubt. Again, as the proper
cultivation of the mind is as expedient as the support of the body,
instruction in art or trade, or intellectual, moral and religious
information may be a necessary also. Again, as man lives in
society ... his clothes may be fine or coarse according to his rank;
his education may vary according to the station he is to fill; and
the medicines will depend on the illness with which he is afflicted
.... Thus, articles of mere luxury are always excluded, though
luxurious articles of utility are sometimes allowed.