Cases - Moffatt v Laurie

Record details

Name

Moffatt v Laurie

Date

(1855)

Citation

15 CB 583

Keywords

Contract administration

Summary

There is a presumption that a contract administrator is entitled to be paid something for his work as it is reasonably to be inferred that people who do work for others expect to be paid for it. However, the parties had agreed that the plaintiff architect would make no charge for the provision of his services (surveys, plans etc.) unless the land in question should be sold for building purposes, in which case he would be appointed architect for the works and be paid a fee.

Accordingly, on an action by the architect for the recovery of a fee for the work he had done, the claim was rejected because the event that would have triggered an entitlement to payment had not happened.