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Facts
The plaintiff wished to purchase his council property. The defendant (Manchester City Council) provided a price of sale. The plaintiff made a counter-offer. At the time of the counter-offer, a change in political control of the council (from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party) resulted in the council's decision to take the council property off the market. The plaintiff sued, arguing that he had accepted the offer of sale and that the council had breached the contract by withdrawing the property from the market.
Court of Appeal
Lord Denning MR held that there was a contract, because one should "look at the correspondence as a whole and at the conduct of the parties and see therefrom whether the parties have come to an agreement on everything that was material."
Geoffrey Lane LJ dissented, and would have held there was no contract. The Council appealed.
House of Lords
The House of Lords unanimously upheld the Council's appeal, so Mr Gibson did not get his house. The court held that the plaintiff's initial response was not a clear and unconditional acceptance of the defendant's offer. No contract had been formed and by extension the council had not been in breach.
See also
- Storer v. Manchester City Council [1974] 1 WLR 1403
