{"id":5404,"date":"2025-04-13T19:06:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T13:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/?p=5404"},"modified":"2025-04-20T14:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T09:08:18","slug":"harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey v. Facey 1893 (Case Summary)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"5404\" class=\"elementor elementor-5404\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5dfb39ea elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no\" data-id=\"5dfb39ea\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b6e8055\" data-id=\"b6e8055\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-51249c7d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"51249c7d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Harvey v. Facey 1893 (Case Summary)<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-360e1cd9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"360e1cd9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"864\" src=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-1536x864.png\" class=\"attachment-1536x1536 size-1536x1536 wp-image-5405\" alt=\"Harvey v. Facey\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fawyerz-14.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" title=\"\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32af695b elementor-grid-0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-wpr-sharing-buttons\" data-id=\"32af695b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"wpr-sharing-buttons.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wpr-sharing-buttons elementor-grid wpr-sharing-official wpr-sharing-label-off wpr-sharing-label-tr\"><div class=\"elementor-grid-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/\" class=\"wpr-sharing-icon wpr-sharing-facebook-f\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\"><\/i><\/a><\/div><div class=\"elementor-grid-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/&title=Harvey v. Facey 1893 (Case Summary)&summary=This case laid the foundation for distinguishing between a mere supply of information and a binding offer in contract law. The Privy Council held that quoting a price in response to a query does not in itself amount to an offer, thereby &source=https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/\" class=\"wpr-sharing-icon wpr-sharing-linkedin-in\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\"><\/i><\/a><\/div><div class=\"elementor-grid-item\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Harvey v. Facey 1893 (Case Summary)&body=https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/\" class=\"wpr-sharing-icon wpr-sharing-envelope\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fas fa-envelope\"><\/i><\/a><\/div><div class=\"elementor-grid-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/api.whatsapp.com\/send?text=*Harvey v. Facey 1893 (Case Summary)*%0ahttps:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/\" class=\"wpr-sharing-icon wpr-sharing-whatsapp\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-whatsapp\"><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-20c94f15 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"20c94f15\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This case laid the foundation for distinguishing between a mere supply of information and a binding offer in contract law. The Privy Council held that quoting a price in response to a query does not in itself amount to an offer, thereby emphasizing the significance of offer and acceptance in forming enforceable agreements.<\/span><\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #000000;color:#000000\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/#Facts_of_Harvey_v_Facey\" >Facts of Harvey v. Facey<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/#Issues_framed\" >Issues framed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/#Subordinate_Court_Judgment\" >Subordinate Court Judgment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/contract-law\/harvey-v-facey-1893-case-summary\/#Judgment_of_Harvey_v_Facey\" >Judgment of Harvey v. Facey<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Facts_of_Harvey_v_Facey\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><b>Facts of Harvey v. Facey<\/b><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvey (Appellants) and Facey (Respondents) were engaged in negotiations over the sale of a property known as Bumper Hall Pen.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Appellants, Harvey, sent a telegram to the Respondents, Facey, which stated: &#8220;Will you sell us Bumper Hall Pen? Telegraph lowest cash price.<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facey responded with a telegram: &#8220;Lowest price for Bumper Hall Pen \u00a3900.&#8221;<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvey then sent a final telegram stating: &#8220;We agree to buy Bumper Hall Pen for the sum of nine hundred pounds asked by you.&#8221; <\/span>Facey refused to sell the property, leading to a dispute.<\/li><\/ol><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Issues_framed\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><b>Issues framed<\/b><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether the telegram sent by Facey constituted a binding offer capable of acceptance?<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether a valid contract had been formed between Harvey and Facey?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><\/li><\/ol><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Subordinate_Court_Judgment\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><b>Subordinate Court Judgment<\/b><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trial Court (Jamaica): Dismissed the suit stating no concluded contract existed.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Court of Appeal (Jamaica): Reversed the Trial Court\u2019s decision and stated that an agreement did exist and awarded Harvey damages against Facey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case then went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Judgment_of_Harvey_v_Facey\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><b>Judgment of <\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><b>Harvey v. Facey<\/b><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Privy Council applied the common law principles of law of contracts, specifically the doctrines of offer and acceptance. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Privy Council distinguished between an &#8220;offer&#8221; and a &#8220;mere supply of information.&#8221; It held that Facey\u2019s reply only provided the lowest price he would accept and did not amount to an offer to sell.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Privy Council clarified that Facey\u2019s telegram did not constitute an offer, but rather a response to a request for information, which is legally classified as an invitation to treat (offer). Since there was no intention to be bound by merely stating the lowest acceptable price, Harvey\u2019s acceptance was of something that was never offered, thus failing to create mutual assent, a fundamental requirement under the doctrine of offer and acceptance.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court ruled in favor of Facey, stating that no contract had been formed; the court further observed that a mere statement of the lowest price at which the vendor would be willing to sell contains no implied contract to sell at that price to the person making the inquiry. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This case laid the foundation for distinguishing between a mere supply of information and a binding offer in contract law. The Privy Council held that quoting a price in response to a query does not in itself amount to an offer, thereby <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[94,154,90],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contract-law","tag-acceptance","tag-invitation-to-offer","tag-offer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5404"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5667,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions\/5667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fawyerz.in\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}