Parker v. South Eastern Railway Company

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Parker v South Eastern Railway (1877) 2 CPD 416 is a famous English contract law case on exclusion clauses where the court held that an individual cannot escape a contractual term by failing to read the contract but that a party wanting to rely on an exclusion clause must take reasonable steps to bring it to the attention of the customer.

1 Background
2 Judgment
3 Sources
4 See also

[edit] Background

Mr. Parker left a bag in the cloakroom of a railway station. On depositing his bag and paying two pence he received a ticket, which, on its back, stated that the railway was excluded from liability for items worth £10 or more. Parker failed to read the clause as he thought the ticket was only a receipt of payment. (However, he admitted that he knew the ticket contained writing.) The question of law put to the court was whether the clause applied to Parker. At trial the jury found for Mr. Parker as it was reasonable for him not to read the ticket.

[edit] Judgment

The Court held that if Parker was aware the ticket contained writing, Mr. Parker would presumed to know of the existence of the clause. However, it also ruled that the railway must have shown that it went to reasonable efforts to bring the condition to Mr. Parker's attention. The Court ordered a retrial for the jury to consider whether reasonable notice was given.