Cases - Minster Trust v Traps Tractors

Record details

Name

Minster Trust v Traps Tractors

Date

[1954]

Citation

3 AII ER 136

Keywords

Construction contracts - contract for hire of machinery - cessation of hire and reconditioning of machinery - issue of certificate to all the world that machinery fully reconditioned - independence of certifier - whether payment conditional on certificate as to quality

Summary

The defendant had let out earth-moving plant and machinery on hire to the claimant by a contract which provided that 'on the completion of the hire each machine will be ... reconditioned by [the claimant] ... under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the Hunt Engineering Company and the hire will cease on the issuance of their certificate that the machines have been satisfactorily overhauled on a fully reconditioned basis.' This meant that the certificate to be issued by Hunts was to be a certificate addressed to all the world, or to all who may be concerned, certifying a standard of quality extraneous to the contract.

In relation to the independence of the certifier, the Court considered that if a building owner makes the obligation of payment conditional on his architect's certificate of quality, he must not, for example, instruct his architect not to be content with less than three coats of paint, for he has impliedly undertaken that he will leave his architect free to judge independently, either by reference to the contract requirements or to his own standards of quality, whichever the case may be, how many coats of paint are required.