Cases - Williams v Fitzmaurice

Record details

Name

Williams v Fitzmaurice

Date

(1858)

Citation

157 ER 709

Keywords

Contract - lump sum - payment - additional works - contract to provide a house that was dry and fit for occupation - whether contract included installation of flooring - whether the contractor was entitled to payment for the outstanding works or the outstanding balance of monies

Summary

The claimant was contracted to build a house for the defendant. The obligation was that the house was 'to be dry and fit for ... occupation' and the claimant was to provide 'the whole of the materials ... necessary for the completion of the work'. The specification did not include flooring and the claimant refused to supply it without additional payment. The defendant terminated the contract. The Court held that the claimant could not recover either the amount outstanding or the cost of the floorboards, which the defendant had seized upon taking over the site. The words used in the contract clearly inferred that flooring was necessary to complete the house.