''Harvela Investments Ltd. v Royal Trust of Canada (CI) Ltd.''

986 Year 986 ( CMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * August 17 – Battle of the Gates of Trajan: Emperor Basil II leads a Byz ...

1 AC 207 Harvela Investments Ltd. and others v Royal Trust of Canada (CI) Ltd and others
UK House of Lords, 11 July 1985, accessed 8 November 2020 is a legal case decided by 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 1986 defining the

law of England and Wales English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, been ...

regarding referential bids in competitive tenders.

Facts

The Royal Trust Company owned shares in a company, and invited bids for them. Harvela bid $2,175,000 and Sir Leonard Outerbridge bid:

"$2,100,000 or $101,000 in excess of any other offer expressed as a fixed monetary amount, whichever is higher."

The Royal Trust accepted Sir Leonard's bid as being $2,276,000. Harvela sued for breach of contract, saying a referential bid was invalid. The

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 ...

held in favour of the Royal Trust, that expressing a fixed amount made the referential bid valid.

Judgement

The House of Lords unanimously reversed the Court of Appeal's decision.

Lord Templeman Sydney William Templeman, Baron Templeman, MBE, PC (3 March 1920 – 4 June 2014) was a British judge. He served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1982 to 1995. Early life and career Templeman was born on 3 March 1920, the son of Herbert W ...

, in his judgement, pointed especially to ''South Hetton Coal Co. v. Haswell, Shotton and Easington Coal and Coke Co.''

898 __NOTOC__ Year 898 ( DCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 1 – King Odo I (or Eudes) dies at La Fère (Northern France) af ...

1 Ch. 465, where Sir Nathaniel Lindley MR had dealt with referential bids previously (233-4).

Lord Diplock William John Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, (8 December 1907 – 14 October 1985) was a British barrister and judge who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary between 1968 and until his death in 1985. Appointed to the English High Court in ...

died three months after giving his judgement (11 July 1985), aged 78. He put his opinion in the following way: Lord Bridge added that the referential bid can only be ascertained in amount after the deadline has fallen for all bids to come in.

References

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Facts

Judgement

References

See also