. . . At the trial before Crompton. J., . . . it appeared that the plaintiffs carried on an extensive business as millers at Gloucester; and that on the 11th of May, 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, who are the well-known carriers trading 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 in answer to the inquiry when the shaft would be taken, 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 21. 4s. was paid for its carriage for the whole distance; at the same time the defendants' clerk was told that a special entry, if required, would be made to hasten its delivery. 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 after they would otherwise have done, and the working of their mill was thereby delayed, and they thereby lost the profits they would otherwise have received.

On the part of the defendants, it was objected that these damages were too remote, and that the defendants were not liable with respect to them. The learned Judge left the case generally to the jury, who found a verdict with ₤251. damages beyond the amount paid into Court.

 . . .

The judgment of the Court was now delivered by

ALDERSON, B. We think that there ought to be a new trial in this case; but, in so doing we deem it to be expedient and necessary to state explicitly the rule which the Judge, at the next trial, ought, in our opinion, to direct the jury to be governed by when they estimate the damages. . . .

"There are certain established rules," this Court says, in Alder v. Keighley (15 M. & W. 117), "according to which they jury ought to find."  And the Court, in that case, adds: "and here there is a clear rule, that the amount which would have been received if the contract had been kept, is the measure of damages if the contract is broken."

Question

The basic principle of contract damages is to put the non-breacher in as good a position as he or she would have been had the contract been performed as promised. 

Do we achieve this goal when we follow the "clear rule, that the amount which would have been received if the contract had been kept, is the measure of damages if the contract is broken"?

(a) Yes

(b) No

Now we think the proper rule in such a case as the present is this: - Where two parties have made a contract which one of them has broken, the damages which the other party ought to receive in respect of such breach of contract should be such as may fairly and reasonably be considered either arising naturally, i.e., according to the usual course of things, from such breach of contract itself, or such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties, at the time they made the contract, as the probable result of the breach of it.

Question

The court distinguishes two types of damage:  (1) those arising in the usual course of things; and (2) those reasonably supposed to be in the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting.  Focus for now on (1).  If the court were to hold that the Hadley's lost profits were damages arising in the usual course of things, then it would award the Hadley's the lost profits and thereby putting them in the position they would have been had the breach not occurred.

(a) Yes

(b) No

Now, if the special circumstances under which the contract was actually made were communicated by the plaintiffs to the defendants, and thus known to both parties, the damages resulting from the breach of such a contract, which they would reasonably contemplate, would be the amount of injury, which would ordinarily follow from a breach of contract under these circumstances so known and communicated. But, on the other had, if these special circumstances were wholly unknown to the party breaking the contract, he, at the most, could only be supposed to have had in his contemplation the amount of injury which would arise generally, and in the great multitude of cases not affected by any special circumstances, from such breach of contract.

Question

Suppose you routinely hire me to deliver packages for you.  As we both know, the packages never contain items worth more than $20.  Today, however, you hand me a package containing a diamond necklace worth $1 million.  You hand me the package already wrapped and do not tell me the value of what it contains. 

(a) The damage of $1 million if the package is lost is "reasonably supposed to be in [my] contemplation . . . at the time of contracting." 

(b) The damage of $1 million if the package is lost is not "reasonably supposed to be in [my] contemplation . . . at the time of contracting." 

For, had the special circumstances been known, the parties might have specially provided for the breach of contract by special terms as to the damages in that case; and of this advantage it would be very unjust to deprive them. Now the above principles are those by which we think the jury ought to be guided in estimating the damages arising out of any breach of contract. It is said, that other cases such as breaches of contract in the non-payment of money, or in the not making a good title to land, are to be treated as exceptions to from this, and as governed by the conventional rule. But as, in such cases, both parties must suppose to be cognisant of that well-known rule, these cases may, we think, be more properly classed under the rule above enunciated as to cases under known special circumstances, because there both parties may reasonably be presumed to contemplate the estimation of the amount of damages according to the conventional rule.

Question

The court will not award damages not "reasonably supposed to be in the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting."  Suppose the court were to hold--as indeed it does below--that the Hadley's lost profits were not "reasonably supposed to be in the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting."  Then it would not award the lost profits.

(a) This would at least appear not to put the Hadley's back in the position they would have been had the contract not been breached.

(b) This would put the Hadley's back in the position they would have been had the contract not been breached.

Now, in the present case, if we are to apply the principles above laid down, we find that the only circumstances here communicated by the plaintiffs to the defendants at the time the contract was made, were, that the article to be carried was the broken shaft of a mill, and that the plaintiffs were the millers of that mill. But how do these circumstances shew reasonably that the profits of the mill must be stopped by an unreasonable delay in the delivery of the broken shaft by the carrier to the third person? Suppose the plaintiffs had another shaft in their possession put up or putting up at the time, and that they only wished to send back their broken shaft to the engineer who made it; it is clear that this would be quite consistent with the above circumstances, and yet the unreasonable delay in the delivery would have no effect upon the intermediate profits of the mill. Or, again, suppose that, at the time of the delivery to the carrier, the machinery of the mill had been in other respects defective, then , also, the same results would follow. Here it is true that the shaft was actually sent back to serve as a model for a new one, and that the want of a new one was the only cause of the stoppage of the mill, and that the loss of profits really arose from not sending down the new shaft in proper time, and that this arose from the delay in delivering the broken one to serve as a model. But, it is obvious that, in the great multitude of cases millers sending off broken shafts to third parties by a carrier under ordinary circumstances, such consequences would not, in all probability, have occurred; and these special circumstances were here never communicated by the plaintiffs to the defendants. It follow, therefore, that the loss of profits here cannot reasonably be considered such a consequence of the breach of contract as could have been fairly and reasonably contemplated by both the parties when they made this contract. For such loss would neither have flowed naturally from the breach of this contract in the great multitude of such cases occurring under ordinary circumstances, nor were the special circumstances, which, perhaps, would have made it a reasonable and natural consequence of such breach of contract, communicated to or known by the defendants. The Judge ought, therefore, to have told the jury, that, upon the facts then before them, they ought not to take the loss of profits into consideration at all in estimating the damages. There must therefore be a new trial in this case.

Comment

The court finds:

(1) it is obvious that most millers would have a spare shaft;

(2) the Hadleys did not communicate their lack of a spare shaft to the defendants;

(3) hence, the lost profits were not reasonably in the contemplation of the defendants at the time of contracting.