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Hello Mike, I hope you are doing well.
First of all, I would like to appreciate your lectures, they’ve been a lot of help, thanks a lot!
Secondly, I wanted to ask about representations under the contract law chapter. I was confused about the bullet points in the notes and do not understand what they are saying. All I understand is that representations are like invitations to treat. But i don’t understand how opinions are linked to it. in the notes it says “nor or opinion” and then it says “unless clearly not a genuine opinion.”
Kindly explain as I am quite confused, thanks.
Thank you Muhammad for those kind words 🙂
A representation is …
– a pre-contractual statement made
– by one party to another
– of some known or discernible fact and
– made with the intention of inducing the other into a contractSo, if it’s a statement of opinion, then that clearly rules out the situation where a statement is being discussed as being a representation
BUT!!! If this statement of opinion is clearly not a genuine opinion, then that would be classed as a misrepresentation.
The case Bissett v Wilkinson concerning an opinion about the ability of a stretch of land to support 2,000 sheep was an opinion based on the vendor’s knowledge of the land and of farming. As a statement of opinion, and a genuine opinion, it was not taken to be a representation.
But in the case Smith v Land and House Property Company, the statement of opinion by the vendor that ‘Mr Frederick Fleck, a most desirable tenant’ did not accurately characterise Mr Fleck who really could not be considered to be a desirable tenant
Thus, although this was a statement of opinion and not, on the face of it, a representation, because it was clearly a statement of false opinion, it could be (and was) seen to be a representation.
Is that clearer for you?
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