The law graduate who spotted that the car park in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking is being demolished has a blog containing photos of how places which featured in famous cases look today. Here are a selection of images from Amy Woolfson’s brilliant London Law Map.
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] 1 All ER 482
The pioneering self-service Boots store at the heart of this famous English contract law decision is still a chemist — although not a Boots one — opening up the thrilling possibility of a law geek pilgrimage to Burnt Oak Pharmacy in north London. What better way to spend a Saturday than by making an offer in the home of the “invitation to treat”?
Williams v Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Contractors) Ltd [1991] 1 Q.B.1
Captured on a rare moment when not surrounded by hordes of contract law tourists, Twynholm Mansions is the Fulham block of flats over which Williams successfully sued Roffey Brothers, leading to this key decision on the doctrine of consideration.
Scott v London and St Katherine Docks Co [1861-73] All ER Rep 246
Formerly a dingy dockyard — where Scott was hit by six bags of sugar that fell from a crane above him in a case that is an authority for the tort law concept of Res Ipsa Locquitur (“the thing itself speaks”) — St Katharine Docks is now a paradise of gentrification. Note the misspelling of “Katharine” in the official case name.
Central London Property Trust v High Trees House Ltd [1956] 1 All ER 256
Who knew that the spiritual home of promissory estoppel is an art deco block of flats just round the corner from Clapham South Tube?
Bird v Jones (1845) 115 ER 668
Bizarrely, one of the leading cases on the tort of false imprisonment centred around a bust-up on a bridge. Hammersmith Bridge was replaced in 1887 due to structural problems, with the new bridge still in place today.
Prudential Assurance v London Residuary Body and others [1992] 2 A.C. 386
The leading land law case which decided that leases must be for term that is certain arose from a dispute over what is now an Elephant & Castle beauty salon.
Krell v Henry [1903] 2 KB 740
The 3rd floor of 56a Pall Mall appears to be pretty much exactly as it was in 1902 when it was rented by Mr Krell to Mr Henry as a place to watch the coronation procession of King Edward VII. The subsequent postponement of the coronation caused all sorts of problems, but gladly made a crucial contribution to the case law governing the doctrine of frustration.
Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1991] 2 AC 548
The House of Lords case which illustrates how the common law remedy of restitution operates involved a solicitor who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from his firm’s client account and blew at it the Playboy Club Casino on Park Lane (now the Dorchester Hotel).
Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 1 All ER 686
As we reported last week, Lord Denning fans will be sad to hear that the central London car park which featured in the famous Court of Appeal exclusion clause case is no longer.
There are more details, including exact locations, of the cases above at the London Law Map, alongside several other cases not detailed here.