Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper's Garage (Stourport) Ltd

Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper’s Garage (Stourport) Ltd [1967] UKHL 1 is an English contract law case, concerning the restraint of trade through a tying arrangement.

Esso Ltd v Harper’s Garage (Stourport) Ltd
Stock image of a modern Esso garage in 2008.
CourtHouse of Lords
Citation(s)[1967] UKHL 1, [1968] AC 269
Court membership
Judge(s) sittingLord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Hodson, Lord Pearce, Lord Wilberforce
Keywords
Contract, illegality, restraint of trade

Facts

Harper’s Garage agreed to accept all petrol for its two stations from Esso for a long period of time, a solus agreement. It agreed to keep the garage open at all reasonable hours and not to sell it without ensuring that the buyer entered a similar agreement. One agreement was for 5 years, the other for 21 years.

Judgment

The House of Lords held that the 5-year agreement was valid and the 21-year agreement was invalid.

Lord Reid said he ‘would not attempt to define the dividing line between contracts which are and contracts which are not in restraint of trade’. It was preferable ‘to ascertain what were the legitimate interests of the [suppliers] which they were entitled to protect and then to see whether these restraints were more than adequate for that purpose.’

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See also

Notes

    References
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