Liverpool City Council v Irwin [1976] UKHL 1 is a leading 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...

 case, concerning the basis on which courts may imply terms

Implied terms in English law

Implied terms in English law refers to the practice of setting down default rules for contracts, when terms that contracting parties expressly choose run out, or setting down mandatory rules which operate to override terms that the parties may have themselves chosen...

 into contracts.

Facts

There was a fifteen storey tower block known as ‘the Piggeries’ in Everton, Liverpool. It had seventy units, a stairwell, two lifts, and a rubbish chute. Mr and Mrs Irwin were tenants from July 1966. The common parts were vandalised, the lifts did not work, the stair lights failed, the chute was blocked, lavatory cisterns blocked and overflowed. The tenants refused to pay rent. In an action by the council to eject them, they counterclaimed that the council was in breach of a duty to keep the common parts of the estates in decent repair.

Court of Appeal

Lord Denning MR dissented from Roskill LJ and Ormrod LJ and argued that a contractual term can be implied when it is ‘reasonable’. After the Moorcock, Reigate and Shirlaw, he mentioned the ‘stacks’ of cases where terms are implied.

House of Lords

Lord Wilberforce held it was a necessary term of living on an estate that landlords keep stairwells in order. However tenants also had a duty of reasonable care and on the facts the council was not in breach of its obligations. Applying the business efficacy or the officious bystander test would not result in the term’s implication, but asking what the relationship required would.

Lord Cross' judgment went as follows.

See also

• 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...
  
  
• Implied terms in English law
  Implied terms in English law
  Implied terms in English law refers to the practice of setting down default rules for contracts, when terms that contracting parties expressly choose run out, or setting down mandatory rules which operate to override terms that the parties may have themselves chosen...
  
  

Implication in fact

• The Moorcock
  The Moorcock
  The Moorcock 14 PD 64 is a leading English contract law case, which introduced the concept of implied terms. It has been superseded by more modern approach to implied terms in recent cases such as Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman and Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom...
  
  (1889) 14 PD 64
• Shirlaw v Souther Foundries Ltd [1939] 2 KB 206, 207
• BP Refinery (Westernport) Pty Ltd v Shire of Hastings (1978) ALJR 20, 26
• Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman
  Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman
  Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman [2000] is an English contract law case, concerning implied terms.-Facts:Equitable Life issued ‘with profits’ life assurance policies, which are a way of saving for retirement. If policy holders took benefits as a taxable annuity Equitable Life Assurance...
  
  [2002] 1 AC 408
• Paragon Finance plc v Nash [2001] EWCA Civ 1466

Implication in law

• Shell UK Ltd v Lostock Garage Ltd [1976] WLR 1187
• Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board
  Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board
  Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board [1992] 1 AC 294 is an English contract law case, relevant for pensions and UK labour law, concerning implied terms.-Facts:...
  
  [1992] 1 AC 294,
• Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority
  Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority
  Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority [1991] 2 All ER 293 is an English contract law case, concerning implied terms and unfair terms under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.-Facts:...
  
  [1991] 2 All ER 293
• Mahmud and Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA [1998] AC 20
• Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd
  Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd
  Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd [2004] is an English contract law case, concerning implied terms.-Facts:Mr Crossley was a director of Faithful & Gould Ltd. He suffered a nervous breakdown. Under the firm’s disability insurance scheme, so long as he was an employee he was entitled to...
  
  [2004] EWCA Civ 293