Life is great! And therefore L'Estrange v F Graucob Limited
[1934] 2 K.B. 394 English King's Bench Division
On purchasing certain goods the buyer signed a contract excluding all implied warranties and conditions whether statutory or otherwise. The buyer did not read or even know of the existence of this clause. The goods were unfit for the purpose for which they were intended and on an action for damages for breach of the implied warranty of fitness contained in the English Sales of Goods Act it was held that on the signing of the contract the express condition excluded the implied warranty notwithstanding the buyer's absence of knowledge.
SCRUTTON LJ (pp 402-403): The main question raised in the present case is whether that clause formed part of the contract. If it did, it clearly excluded any condition or warranty.
In the course of the argument in the County Court reference was made to the railway passenger and cloakroom ticket cases, such as Richardson, Spence & Co v Rowntree [1894] AC 217. In that case Lord Herschell LC laid down the law applicable to these cases and stated the three questions which should there be left to the jury. In the present case the learned judge asked himself the three questions appropriate to these cases, and in answering them has found as facts: (i) that the plaintiff knew that there was printed material on the document which she signed; (ii) that she did not know that the document contained conditions relating to the contract; and (iii) that the