Expert Determination in UK Law

If the mistake made was that the expert departed from his instructions in a material respect—e.g. if he valued the wrong number of shares, or valued shares in the wrong company, or if, as in Jones v. Jones [1971] 1 WLR 840, the expert had valued machinery himself whereas his instructions were to employ an expert valuer of his choice to do that—either party would be able to say that the certificate was not binding because the expert had not done what he was appointed to do.

the distinction is drawn and the effect spelt out, namely that there is no requirement for the rules of natural justice or due process to be followed in an expert determination in order for that determination to be valid and binding between the parties.

The conclusive point which to my mind emerges from this discussion is however that if the buyers' construction of the notice provision is adopted then there is opened up scope for enormous debate as to what precisely is required by way of the provision of information in order to render the sellers' notice valid. Having regard to the consequences for the sellers should their notice be held to be inadequate I cannot believe that this is what the parties envisaged.