Noorbhai & Co. V. Karuppen Chetty

Present: Bertram C.J., Ennis J., and Jayewardene A.J.

NOORBHAI & CO. v. KARUPPEN CHETTY

426-D. C. Colombo, 8,290

Contract of sale at a fixed price-After price of article had gone down, pretension by buyer that the contract price was less-After price of article had gone up, repudiation of contract by seller-Action for damages.

The defendant agreed to deliver to plaintiffs 1,500 bags of sugar at Rs. 37.50 a bag. The price of sugar then went down, and the plaintiffs pretended that the contract price was Rs. 34 a bag, and not Rs. 37.50. The defendant repudiated the suggestion, and held the plaintiffs to the bargain. The price of sugar then went up, and the defendant thereupon asserted that the contract no longer subsisted, and, notwithstanding the protests of the plaintiffs, disposed of the goods. The plaintiffs claimed Rs. 17,250 damages for breach of contract.

The defendant set up the defence that there was no contract, and in the alternative that if there were a contract that the plaintiffs had repudiated it and were estopped from claiming the benefit of it.

Held (Per Ennis J. and Jayawardene A.J., dissentiente Bertram C.J.) th

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