Addis v Gramophone Co Ltd [1909] AC 488 is an old English contract law

English contract law

English contract law is a body of law regulating contracts in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries across the Commonwealth , and the United States...

 and UK labour law case, which used to restrict damages for non-pecuniary losses for breach of contract.

Facts

Mr Addis was Gramophone’s manager in Calcutta. He was given six months' notice as required and appointed a successor. They took steps to prevent Addis acting as manager. This was humiliating. The jury awarded Addis £340 for loss of commissions and £600 for wrongful dismissal. Could there be damages for the manner of dismissal?

The Court of Appeal had allowed damages for the manner of the dismissal.

Submissions

Duke KC and Groser, for the appellant.
Lush KC (Schiller with him), for the respondents.

Judgment

Lord Loreburn held that £600 was not allowed, that he could only recover his six month salary and no more. At 491 he said,

‘If there be a dismissal without notice the employer must pay an indemnity; but that indemnity cannot include compensation either for the injured feelings of the servant…’

Lord Collins dissented.
Lord Atkinson said the case was in fact about libel.

Lord Loreburn LC
Lord James of Hereford.
Lord Atkinson.
Lord Collins.
Lord Gorell.
Lord Shaw of Dunfermline.

Significance

The case was met with immediate disapproval in a number of quarters. Sir Frederic Pollock, the editor of the Law Quarterly Review, and contrasted "an artificial rule or mere authority" to "the rationale of the matter" as follows.
Slowly the case has been repealed as a matter of contract and employment law, illustrated by Farley v Skinner

Farley v Skinner

Farley v Skinner [2001] is an English contract law case, concerning the measure and availability of damages for distress.-Facts:Mr Farley bought a big house - Riverside House - in Blackboys, Sussex, not far from Gatwick. It had a croquet lawn, tennis court, orchard, paddock and swimming pool...

and Johnson v Unisys Ltd

Johnson v Unisys Ltd

Johnson v Unisys Limited [2001] is a leading UK labour law case on the measure of damages for unfair dismissal and the nature of the contract of employment.-Facts:...

.

See also

Contract law cases

• Hamlin v Great Northern Railway Co (1856) 1 H&N 408, 411, Pollock CB no damages 'for the disappointment of mind occasioned by the breach of contract'.
• Hobbs v London and South Western Railway Co (1875) LR 10 QB 111, 122 Mellor J, ' for the mere inconvenience, such as annoyance and loss of temper, or vexation, or for being disappointed in a particular thing which you have set your mind upon, without real physical inconvenience resulting, you cannot recover damages.'
• Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd
  Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd
  Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd [1972] is an English contract law case on the measure of damages for disappointing breaches of contract.-Facts:Mr. Jarvis was a solicitor for Barking Council. He chose to go for Christmas holiday in Switzerland. He got a brochure from Swan Tours Ltd, which for Mörlialp,...
  
  [1973] 1 All ER 71
• Jackson v Horizon Holidays Ltd
  Jackson v Horizon Holidays Ltd
  Jackson v Horizon Holidays Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 1468 is an English contract law case, concerning the doctrine of Privity. The case would now be partly resolved by the Contracts Act 1999 section 1, allowing a third party to claim independently...
  
  [1975] 3 All ER 92
• Heywood v Wellers [1975] EWCA Civ 11, [1976] 1 All ER 300
• Watts v Morrow [1991] 1 WLR 1421, [1991] EWCA Civ 9
• Hayes v James & Charles Dodd (A Firm) [1990] 2 All ER 815
• Ruxley Electronics Ltd v Forsyth [1995] UKHL 8
• Farley v Skinner
  Farley v Skinner
  Farley v Skinner [2001] is an English contract law case, concerning the measure and availability of damages for distress.-Facts:Mr Farley bought a big house - Riverside House - in Blackboys, Sussex, not far from Gatwick. It had a croquet lawn, tennis court, orchard, paddock and swimming pool...
  
  [2000] UKHL 49
• Johnson v Gore Wood & Co [2002] 2 AC 1, 49, (a case actually concerning "reflective loss
  Reflective loss
  Reflective loss is a concept used in UK company law for losses of individual shareholders that are inseparable from general losses of the company...
  
  " in UK company law) it was said contract breaking is an ‘incident of commercial life which players in the game are expected to meet with mental fortitude’
• Hamilton Jones v David & Snape [2003] EWHC 3147 (Ch)
• Wilkes v Jessop [2007] CLY 795

Labour law cases

• Malik and Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA
  Malik and Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA
  Malik and Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA [1997] is a leading English contract law and UK labour law case, which confirmed the existence of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence in all contracts of employment.-Facts:...
  
  [1997] UKHL 23, [1998] AC 20; [1997] 3 All ER 1, [1997] IRLR 462, [1997] 3 WLR 95, [1997] ICR 606
• Johnson v Unisys Ltd
  Johnson v Unisys Ltd
  Johnson v Unisys Limited [2001] is a leading UK labour law case on the measure of damages for unfair dismissal and the nature of the contract of employment.-Facts:...
  
  [1998] EWCA Civ 1913, [2001] UKHL 13
• Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc
  Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc
  Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc [2004] is a UK labour law case concerning damages for wrongful dismissal, which were held to not be limited if a breach of contract occurs during the performance of the contract, rather than at the point of termination....
  
  [2002] EWCA Civ 463 and McCabe v Cornwall County Council [2002] EWCA Civ 1887 in joint appeals to the House of Lords at [2004] UKHL 35
• Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council [2004] EWCA Civ 84