Document Type

Response or Comment

Publication Date

1-1919

Abstract

Early in 1914 the defendants contracted to sell to the plaintiffs a quantity of Finland birch timber. The practice was to send the timber direct by sea from Finnish ports. Before any timber was delivered the war broke out and the presence of German warships in the Baltic made the direct shipment by water impossible. The contract contained no war, force majeure or suspension provision. Held, that the contract was not dissolved, and the defendants were liable for damages for non-delivery of the timber. Blackburn Robbin Co., Lim. v. Allen & Sons, Lim. (1918) 87 L. J. K. B. 1085. The doctrine of implied conditions has been broughy before the English courts more prominently since the outbreak of the war thdn ever before, by reason of the many causes of impossibility of performance produced by the war. On the whole it is clear that the courts of England have not allowed themselves to be drawn away from established rules in spite of the great pressure of the war emergency, thus exhibiting in a striking way the judicial poise which has always been characteristic of British judges.


Share

COinS