''Coward v MIB'' was a 1963
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
decision on
intention to create legal relations
Intention to create legal relations, otherwise an "intention to be legally bound", is a doctrine used in contract law, particularly English contract law and related common law jurisdictions.
The doctrine establishes whether a court should presume ...
, and on the liability of the
Motor Insurers Bureau when a passenger in a vehicle is killed or injured through the driver's
negligence
Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
.
The decision was
disapproved and not followed in two subsequent "lift-to-work" cases, ''
Connell v Motor Insurers Bureau'' (1969 CA) and ''
Albert v Motor Insurers Bureau'' (1971 HL).
Facts
Coward was a pillion passenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident for which the rider was responsible. The negligent rider was both a colleague and a friend. The accident occurred on the way to work. As the rider's insurance policy excluded pillion passengers, Coward's widow was obliged to claim damages from the MIB. The MIB would have liability only where insurance for the pillion was compulsory; and at the time insurance was compulsory only if pillions were carried "for hire or reward". Coward had paid the friend a small weekly contribution for the daily trip, and the widow argued that this amounted to a contract for hire or reward. The MIB countered that carriage for hire or reward required to create legal relations, and that on these facts (an agreement between friends), there was no such intention.
Decision
The Court of Appeal held there was no contract of hire or reward as it was a social and domestic agreement without intention to create legal relations, and that the widow was not entitled to compensation.
Subsequent decisions
In ''Connell v Motor Insurers Bureau''
Lord Denning
Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when ...
,
MR, sitting in the Court of Appeal declared that he was "not happy with the decision in ''Coward''", adding that "when a man gives another a lift in return for money there is a contract, albeit informal". Denning refused to follow ''Coward'' and declared that a car driver who gave friends a lift in return for cash or other valuable consideration was indeed acting "for hire or reward".
Strictly speaking, Denning was in breach of the
rule
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule perta ...
that the Court of Appeal is bound by its own earlier decisions; but in ''Albert v Motor Insurers Bureau'' the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
in 1971
approved the ''Connell'' judgment in preference to that in ''Coward''.
The Law Teacher - ''Albert v Motor Insurers Bureau''
/ref>
References
{{Italic title
English contract law
Vehicle insurance