Bear v Lockyer

This case involved an appeal to the High Court of Australia from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The appellant, Isaac Bear, trading as N. Bear & Co., had sued the respondents, Mary Louise Lockyer and Emily Elizabeth Edwards, executrices and trustees of the will of Thomas Edwards, deceased, trading as Thomas Edwards & Co. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants had breached a contract for the sale of crude arsenic by refusing to accept approximately 150 tons of the goods. The plaintiff sought damages for this alleged breach.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether an appeal lay to the High Court without special leave. This depended on whether the amount in controversy, representing the potential damages recoverable by the plaintiff, exceeded the threshold prescribed by section 35(1)(a) of the Judiciary Act 1903-1912. The court was also required to consider the measure of damages for non-acceptance of goods and how it applied to the facts presented.

The court reasoned that the measure of damages for non-acceptance of goods is the difference between the contract price and the market price at the time of the breach. The contract price for the crude arsenic was £2 16s. 6d. per ton. The plaintiff's own evidence suggested that the market price for the rejected goods was approximately £2 16s. per ton. Therefore, the maximum potential loss per ton was sixpence. Given that the quantity in dispute was around 150 tons, the total potential damages would not exceed £3 15s. This amount was significantly less than the appealable amount stipulated in the Judiciary Act. Consequently, the appeal could only proceed with special leave, which was not granted.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.