Schmidt v Holland
Schmidt v Holland | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Court | High Court of New Zealand |
Full case name | Schmidt v Holland |
Decided | 20 December 1982 |
Citation | [1982] 2 NZLR 406 |
Court membership | |
Judge sitting | Hardie Boys J |
Schmidt v Holland [1982] 2 NZLR 406 is a cited case in New Zealand regarding the issue of notice of cancellation of a contract, where a contract has been breached.[1][2]
Background
The Schmidts agreed to purchase the Holland's property. Later, the Schmidt's decided to buy someone else's property, and as a result the Schmidt's indicated to the Hollands, that they did not plan to purchase their property.
As a consequence, the Holland's treated their sales contract as being cancelled, and later sold their property to a 3rd party, and sued the Schmidts for the loss in the resale.
The Schmidts disputed liability, on the basis that as the Hollands had not actioned the formality of informing them that they had accepted their repudiation of the contract, they could not treat the contract as legally cancelled.
Decision
The High Court of New Zealand ruled that as the Schmidt's were not formally advised by the Holland's that they had cancelled the contract, they were not liable for the loss on resale. At the same time, a sympathetic Hardie Boys J stated "The result is hard on the Hollands, for they were not at fault, and their position could so easily have been protected".
Footnote: The courts have subsequently shown willingness to avoid such rulings, such as in Chatfield v Jones (1990) 3 NZLR 285
References
- ^ Chetwin, Maree; Graw, Stephen; Tiong, Raymond (2006). An introduction to the Law of Contract in New Zealand (4th ed.). Thomson Brookers. p. [page needed]. ISBN 0-86472-555-8.
- ^ Walker, Campbell (2004). Butterworths Student Companion Contract (4th ed.). LexisNexis. p. 201. ISBN 0-408-71770-X.
- Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2014
- Articles with short description
- Short description matches Wikidata
- Use New Zealand English from April 2024
- All Wikipedia articles written in New Zealand English
- Orphaned articles from April 2024
- All orphaned articles
- Use dmy dates from July 2019
- High Court of New Zealand cases
- New Zealand contract case law
- 1982 in case law
- 1982 in New Zealand law
- All stub articles
- New Zealand case law stubs