Hadley v. Baxendale

Facts

The plaintiffs carried on an extensive business as millers and their mill was stopped by a breakage of the crank shaft by which the mill was worked. The steam-engine was manufactured by Messrs. Joyce & Co., the engineers, at Greenwich, and it became necessary to send the shaft as a pattern for a new one to Greenwich. The fracture was discovered on the 12th, and on the 13th the plaintiffs sent one of their servants to the office of the defendants under the name of Pickford & Co. for the purpose of having the shaft carried to Greenwich. The plaintiffs’ servant told the clerk that the mill was stopped, and that the shaft must be sent immediately; and the answer was, that if it was sent up by twelve o’clock any day, it would be delivered at Greenwich on the following day. On the following day the shaft was taken by the defendants, before noon, for the purpose of being conveyed to Greenwich, and the sum of 2l. 4s. was paid for its carriage for the whole distance. The delivery of the shaft at Greenwich was delayed by some neglect; and the consequence was, that the plaintiffs did not receive the new shaft for several days  and the working of their mill was thereby delayed, and they thereby lost the profits they would otherwise have received.