Jones V Padavatton
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{{Infobox Court Case , name = Jones v Padavatton , court =
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 ...
, image = Lincolns Inn 1.jpg , date decided = 29 November 1968 , full name = , citations = EWCA_Civ_4
_ EWCA_Civ_4
_[1969">968
EWCA_Civ_4
_[19691_WLR_328;_All_ER_616 .html" ;"title="969.html" ;"title="968
EWCA Civ 4
968
EWCA_Civ_4

_[19691_WLR_328;_All_ER_616 ">_subsequent_actions_=_ .html" ;"title="969">968
EWCA Civ 4
[19691 WLR 328; All ER 616 "> subsequent actions = "> opinions = , transcripts = , keywords = Creating legal relations, enforceability , Judges=Harold Danckwerts, Lord Justice Danckwerts, Cyril Salmon, Baron Salmon, Lord Justice Salmon, Fenton Atkinson, Lord Justice Fenton Atkinson ''Jones v Padavatton'' [1968
EWCA Civ 4
is a leading English decision on
contract law A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
. The decision demonstrates how domestic agreements, such as in between a mother and daughter, are presumed not to be legally binding unless there is clear intention.


Facts

A mother, Mrs Violet Lalgee Jones, agreed with her daughter, Mrs Ruby Padavatton, that if she would give up her secretary job at the Indian embassy in Washington DC and study for the bar in England, the mother would pay maintenance (from Trinidad, East Indian descent). The mother gave monthly payments of 42 pounds and then bought a London house (the daughter moved out of a one-room flat in Acton to 181 Highbury Quadrant,
Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...
) which she lived in and rented out. Then they had a quarrel while Mrs Padavatton was still completing her bar exams at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
. The mother brought an action for possession of the house. The daughter argued there was a binding contract that she could stay.


Judgment

The Court held that there was no binding contract. Although there would have been a contract if it was not the domestic parties related, there was insufficient evidence to rebut the presumption against domestic arrangements. Also, the Court of Appeal stated that the agreement would last until the daughter had passed her Bar finals; yet 5 years had elapsed and she had still not passed them, therefore the contract had elapsed.


See also

*''
Balfour v Balfour ''Balfour v Balfour'' 9192 KB 571 is a leading English contract law case. It held that there is a rebuttable presumption against an intention to create a legally enforceable agreement when the agreement is domestic in nature. Facts Mr. Balfour ...
'' *''
Merritt v Merritt ''Merritt v Merritt'' 970EWCA Civ 6is an English contract law case, on the matter of Creating legal relations in English law">creating legal relations. While under the principles laid out in Balfour v Balfour, domestic agreements between spouse ...
''


External links


full text
English enforceability case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 1968 in British law 1968 in case law