English Exporters (London) Ltd v. S.A. Ayanda (1973)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

B. A. COKER, J.S.C.

In the High Court Lagos, the plaintiffs, now appellants, instituted an action against the defendants, now respondents, by a writ endorsed as follows

“The plaintiff’s claim against the defendant is for 877pounds 16s 8d being damages for the loss sustained and more particularly described below by reason of the defendant’s breach of contract in the non-acceptance of a consignment of padlocks ordered by the defendant of the plaintiff but which the defendant wrongfully neglected to take up and pay for together with store rental charges of 19s 6d per week from the 7th day of February, 1968 until judgment.

Particulars of special damage

Contract price for the padlocks . Rental and bank charges from arrival of streamer to 24-11-67. . .Rental and bank charges from 24-11-67 to 29-1-68 … Rental and bank charges from 29-1-68 to 7-2-68 ….

p s d

788 11 0

64 16 3

6 2 10

18 6 7

——————

877 16 8

—————-

The endorsement on the writ, as can be clearly seen, itemised and enumerated the several heads of special damages. The parties filed their respective pleadings and the statement of claim filed by the plaintiffs avers a claim for the amount claimed on the writ in respect of padlocks ordered from them by the defendants and which on arrival in Lagos the defendants, in breach of their contract, “failed and neglected to pay the said price or to accept bills of exchange against the said documents”. On the other hand, the statement of defence denies a breach of the contract by the defendants and avers that by the terms of the same contract the plaintiffs were to ship the padlocks from the United Kingdom on the 20th January, 1967 but they did not do so until the 2nd March, 1967. Paragraph 14 of the statement of defence reads