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The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 91

Contracts of hire

Section 7 Right to hire

Section 8 Correspondence with description

Section 9(2) Satisfactory quality (business contracts only)

Section 9(3) Fitness for purpose (business contracts only)

Section 10 Correspondence with sample

Under a contract of hire, a hirer is given temporary possession of goods but not ownership,
by the owner of the goods.

Part II of the Act

Part II of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 implies three terms into contracts
under which a service is supplied. These terms are as follows:

Section 13 Reasonable care and skill (business services only)

Section 14 Reasonable time (business services only)

Section 15 Reasonable price

Reasonable care and skill (s. 13)

SGSA 1982 s. 13 provides that:

In a contract for the supply of a service where the supplier is acting in the course of a business, there

is an implied term that the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill.

First, it is important to note that this term will be implied only where the service is supplied
in the course of a business. Second, and very important, it must be realised that this term
does not impose strict liability. It imposes a tort standard of reasonable care and skill. For
example, in Thake and another vMaurice (1986)a patient sued a surgeon who had carried
out a vasectomy which did not have the desired effect. The surgeon was not liable because
he had used reasonable care and skill. (The effect of a very few vasectomies can be reversed
naturally.) If the surgeon had guaranteed that the vasectomy would be successful then he
would have been liable. In the absence of such a guarantee, however, s. 13 implies a term only
that the provider of a service in the course of a business will use reasonable care and skill.
The test of whether the service provided was carried out with reasonable care and skill
is objective, not subjective. A person who professes to have a certain level of skill must show
the level of skill which the reasonable person would expect. Professionals, such as solicitors
and accountants, and tradesmen, such as plumbers and roofers, would be expected to show
the level of skill which is normal in that profession or trade.
It is also important to realise that a contract can still be a contract for the supply of a ser-
vice even though it is a contract under which possession of goods or ownership of goods is
transferred.

Example

A contract is made under which a motorist buys new tyres, to be fitted by the garage. This

is both a contract of sale of goods and a contract for the supply of a service. In such cases

two sets of terms are implied. Sections 14(2) and 14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 imply

terms as to satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose. Section 13 of the Supply of Goods

t