Reading a Case Exercise 2

Answers

5. In light of your answers to the above what do you think is the ratio decidendi of the case?
   
   Finding the ratio is easier said than done! It is a question of practice and there is no set formula to arrive at a precise answer. Indeed there may be no precise answer - eg Donoghue v Stevenson example from Twining and Miers as used in Learning Legal Rules.

   Consider the links between the question (the legal issue) before the court and the facts found to be material in the search for ratio.

   The ratio can be seen as the “logical” link between the legal issue and the decision.

   1. The ratio seems to be:

      A display of goods in a self service store is to be construed as a mere invitation to treat and not an offer for sale.

      NOTE It is difficult to direct you to any one part of the case which sets out the ratio decidendi; you need to look at Lord Goddard’s judgment in full, looking for clues at to how he expresses comments about the main issue.

      Lord Goddard does not seem to deal with acceptance and precisely when the contract is formed.

   2. Now read the same case as reported in the “Law Reports” (produced by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting): Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemist (Southern) Ltd[1952] 2 QB 795 Note that there are a final few lines in this report that differ from the All England Report. In this report Lord Goddard also seems to base his decision on a cryptic explanation of supervision in the last few lines of his judgment. Is this a ratio, the statement could clearly be the basis for the outcome of the case? Has the case two rationes?