Hartog v. Colin & Shields

Hartog v. Colin & Shields " [1939] 3 All ER 566" is an important English case in contract law regarding 'unilateral mistake'.

Facts

The defendants, Colin & Shields, were London hide merchants who were sued by a Belgian furrier, Hartog. They had discussed selling him 30,000 Argentinian hare skins at “10d per skin” (which would have come to £1,250), but when they put the final offer in writing they mistakenly wrote “30,000 skins @ 10d per lb”. As hare skins weigh around 5oz, this was a third of the price previously discussed and orally agreed upon. Hartog tried to hold them to it.

Decision

The judge found in Colin & Shields’ favour on the grounds that the plaintiff must have realised the defendants’ error, which, as it concerned a term of the contract, rendered the contract void.

Modern relevance

This case has become a highly relevant precedent in the modern context of e-shopping on the Internet, when online retailers sometimes get the published price wrong and receive hundreds of online orders (automatically accepted) before they discover their error - e.g. advertising a £299 television on the website for £2.99. Retailers can avoid having to supply at the mistakenly low price if the court finds that the would-be purchasers must have known that the advertised price was clearly a mistake.

Obiter Dicta

Louis-Levie Hartog was a Dutch furrier who had settled in Brussels. He suffered from 'furrier's lung' and died in 1941 aged 47. Colin & Shields was founded by Sammy Colin and Clifford Shields in around 1921. In the 1970s the firm was absorbed into the Dalgety Group.