7: CONTRACTS BY MINORS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Contracts for necessaries and beneficial contracts of service
Consequence of failure by the minor to pay for goods or services
Difference between the effect of a contract which has been performed and
those unperformed
Whether the supplier has any prospect of recovering goods from the minor
BENEFICIALS AND NECESSARIES
A minor is a person under the age of 18.
There are categories of people that are not considered to have the same
capacities as an adult: Such as drunk, mentally disordered, minors,
unincorporated associations, etc.
Minors Contracts Act 1987 was important.
Generally, a minor is not bound by a contract he enters into during his minority.
This is for the purpose of protecting minors against their own inexperience by
relieving them of the liability of contracts made by them.
NECESSARIES
Sale of goods defined by s3(3) Of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 are necessaries.
“Goods suitable to the condition in life of the minor, and to his actual
requirements at the time of sale and delivery.”
Necessaries do not mean necessities, but goods which are suitable to the minors
condition in life and his actual requirements.
Peters v Fleming
Rings, pins and a watch chain were held to be necessaries for an undergraduate
who had a rich father.
Nash v Inman
11 fancy waistcoats sold to a minor and he refused to pay. The tailor couldn’t
sue has he couldn’t establish that the defendant was not already amply supplied
with clothing, and thereby were not necessaries.
Hands v Slaney
Where a servant’s uniform was a necessity when purchased by a gentleman.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Contracts for necessaries and beneficial contracts of service
Consequence of failure by the minor to pay for goods or services
Difference between the effect of a contract which has been performed and
those unperformed
Whether the supplier has any prospect of recovering goods from the minor
BENEFICIALS AND NECESSARIES
A minor is a person under the age of 18.
There are categories of people that are not considered to have the same
capacities as an adult: Such as drunk, mentally disordered, minors,
unincorporated associations, etc.
Minors Contracts Act 1987 was important.
Generally, a minor is not bound by a contract he enters into during his minority.
This is for the purpose of protecting minors against their own inexperience by
relieving them of the liability of contracts made by them.
NECESSARIES
Sale of goods defined by s3(3) Of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 are necessaries.
“Goods suitable to the condition in life of the minor, and to his actual
requirements at the time of sale and delivery.”
Necessaries do not mean necessities, but goods which are suitable to the minors
condition in life and his actual requirements.
Peters v Fleming
Rings, pins and a watch chain were held to be necessaries for an undergraduate
who had a rich father.
Nash v Inman
11 fancy waistcoats sold to a minor and he refused to pay. The tailor couldn’t
sue has he couldn’t establish that the defendant was not already amply supplied
with clothing, and thereby were not necessaries.
Hands v Slaney
Where a servant’s uniform was a necessity when purchased by a gentleman.
