Cases - Priestly v Stone

Record details

Name

Priestly v Stone

Date

(1888)

Citation

BC 134. 25

Keywords

Contract administration

Summary

This case was primarily concerned with the question of whether a quantity surveyor appointed by the employer or his architect could be liable for errors in his estimates of quantities to the contractor either in contract or for misrepresentation. The Court of Appeal held that he could not be so liable: the quantity surveyor had no contract with the builder and had no control over whom his work was used by other than his employer. In preparing his quantities and passing them to the architect, the quantity surveyor was not making a representation to the contractor that they are true - only to the architect.

Further, while the architect would be entitled to rely on the quantity surveyor's work, if the quantities were grossly wrong, the architect would be negligent and liable to the employer if he failed to identify the errors.