International Correspondence Schools, Ltd v Irving
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 29 October 1914 |
| Date | 29 October 1914 |
| Docket Number | No. 4. |
| Court | Court of Session |
Lord President, Lord Johnston, Lord Mackenzie, Lord Skerrington.
Contract—Construction—Course of tuition—Payment by instalments—Breach—Specific implement or damages.
A student entered into a contract with a correspondence school by which it was agreed that he should receive a certain course of instruction by correspondence and should pay therefor a fixed sum, payment to be made by monthly instalments until the whole sum was paid up. After pursuing the course for some time and paying the instalments as they fell due during that period, the student declined to continue the course, and refused to make any further payments.
In an action brought against him by the school for payment of the balance of the fixed sum, the student maintained that the school could only recover such damages as they could prove that they had suffered through his breach, if any, of the contract.
Held, on a construction of the contract, that the agreement was for a definite course of instruction on one side and for a lump sum payment on the other, and accordingly that the pursuers, who were willing to complete the instruction they had contracted to supply, were entitled to recover the unpaid balance of that sum.
On 19th January 1914 The International Correspondence Schools, Limited, London, brought a small debt action in the Sheriff Court at Dumfries against Samuel Roxburgh Irving, Ecclefechan, a minor, and his father as his curator, concluding for payment of a sum of £5, 7s. The case was subsequently remitted of consent to the ordinary roll.
The pursuers averred;—(Cond. 1) ‘The pursuers are an institution of an extensive character with branches abroad and throughout the whole of Great Britain whose business consists of providing courses of correspondence instruction in a large number of subjects. …’ (Cond. 2) ‘On 17th September 1910 the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving, who was then an apprentice engineer … signed an offer addressed to pursuers requesting them to supply him with a course of correspondence instruction in Gas-Power Operating, Motor Car Division, on the terms and conditions therein contained. That offer was accepted by pursuers by endorsement thereon of 20th September 1910. …’ (Cond. 3.) ‘On 22nd September 1910 the pursuers sent to the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving full instruction as to the method by which he should study and an arithmetic examination paper, and from that date down till the month of May 1911 the pursuers regularly in terms of said agreement supplied defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving with instruction papers, examined his answers as and when they were sent to them, and thereafter returned the said answers corrected by them to the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving.’ (Cond. 4) ‘On or about 30th July 1911 the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving wrote a letter to the pursuers from an address in Coventry, where he was then living, intimating that he found it impossible to continue his studies in the meantime, and stating that he hoped to re-start lessons in about a year.’ (Cond. 5) ‘The pursuers replied to that letter on 16th August 1911 urging the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving to proceed with his studies. Since that date the pursuers have repeatedly written letters to the said defender urging him to continue his studies and have offered to assist him or transfer him to some course of instruction other than the one for which he contracted, but the said defender refuses to continue his studies.’ These averments were admitted by the defenders. The pursuers further averred;—(Cond. 6) ‘The pursuers have made all necessary preparations in order to complete the instruction contracted to be given to the defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving, and are willing and are prepared to give such instruction, and have all along been willing and ready to do so.’ (Cond. 7) ‘Said offer and acceptance … forming the agreement between the parties, provide for payment to the pursuers of the sum of £11, 17s., payable £1 at the time of signing the said offer and the balance in monthly instalments of 10s., the last of which was payable in July 1912.’ (Cond. 8) ‘The defender Samuel Roxburgh Irving has made the payments in the account annexed to the summons herein, a copy of which is appended hereto, and there is a balance remaining due by him to the pursuers as shown by said account amounting to £5, 7s., which is the sum sued for.’*
The pursuers pleaded;—(1) Under and in terms...
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White and Carter (Councils) Ltd v McGregor
...which they sought. What he had in mind, I think, were circumstances like those in International Correspondence Schools, Ltd. v. Irving, 1915, S.C. 28 which he referred to as highly special on its facts. I do not need to go further than to summarise the circumstances of that case in the Lord......
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Langford & Company v Dutch
...for damages for breach of contract; and the action dismissed as irrelevant. International Correspondence Schools, Limited v. Irving, 1915 S. C. 28, distinguished, particularly in respect that in that case performance under the contract was a unum quid and had already been commenced when the......