''Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper's Garage (Stourport) Ltd''
UKHL 1is an English contract law">967
UKHL 1is an English contract law case, concerning the restraint of trade through a tying arrangement.
Facts
Harper's Garage agreed to accept all petrol for its two stations from Esso for a long period of time, a solus agreement. It agreed to keep the garage open at all reasonable hours and not to sell it without ensuring that the buyer entered a similar agreement. One agreement was for 5 years, the other for 21 years.
Judgment
The House of Lords held that the 5-year agreement was valid and the 21-year agreement was invalid.
Lord Reid said he ‘would not attempt to define the dividing line between contracts which are and contracts which are not in restraint of trade’. It was preferable ‘to ascertain what were the legitimate interests of the
upplierswhich they were entitled to protect and then to see whether these restraints were more than adequate for that purpose.’
Significance
In ''Peninsula Securities Ltd v Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd''
020
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
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020
020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...
UKSC 36
case page/ref> the Supreme Court invoked the
Practice Statement
The Practice Statement 9663 All ER 77 was a statement made in the House of Lords by Lord Gardiner LC on 26 July 1966 on behalf of himself and the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, that they would depart from precedent in the Lords in order to achieve j ...
to depart from ''Esso'' with
Lord Wilson stating:
See also
*
English contract law
English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...
Notes
{{reflist, 2
References
*
English contract case law
House of Lords cases
1967 in United Kingdom case law
Standard Oil
ExxonMobil litigation