Ogilvy v Hope Davies [1976] 1 All ER 683 is an 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 promissory estoppel.

Facts

Ogilvy was selling the Creech Hill Farmhouse, Cranborne

Cranborne

Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. In 2001 the village had a population of 779 people. The town is situated on chalk downland called Cranborne Chase, part of a large expanse of chalk in southern England which includes the nearby Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs.-History:The village...

 to Hope Davies. An abstract of title to the house needed to be sent to Hope Davies' solicitors, but Ogilvy, as a trustee failed to include the deed of appointment as trustee until later on. Hope Davies' solicitors delayed making requisition

Requisition

A requisition is a request for something, especially a formal written request on a pre-printed form.An online requisition is an electronic document, which can be originated by the requester and then using the company workflow or hierarchy rules, can be submitted to the subsequent levels, until it...

s and completion till the deed was sent, and this put Ogilvy at a loss. Ogilvy sued for losses resulting from the delayed completion.

Judgment

Graham J held that Hope Davies' solicitors should have raised requisitions on the defective abstract of title, because it was defective only in ways which were relatively unimportant and likely to be corrected. The late delivery of the deed of appointment, together with a letter sent by the vendors asking that all the requisitions be raised at the same time, amounted to a waiver by Ogilvy of the time limits on requisitions, and it would be inequitable to allow them to claim for losses occasioned by the delay.