ARAMCO OVERSEAS COMPANY V. AUSTRALIAN RICE PTY. LIMITED

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

-ARAMCO..OVERSEAS..COMPANY..

AUSTRALIAN RICE PTY,.LIMITED__. -

| ORIGINAL

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

Judgment delivered at... SY ANE en W. M. Houston, Govt. Print, Melb. - 4 on Thursday.,..3rd_October..1957-—--—-

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ARAMCO OVERSEAS COMPANY

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AUSTRALIAN RICE PTY. LIMITED

ORDER»

Appeal dismissed with costs.

JUDGMENT.

ARAMCO OVERSEAS COMPANY

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AUSTRALIAN RICE PTY.

LIMITED.

DIXON C.J. WILLIAMS J. TAYLOR J.

ARAMCO OVERSEAS COMPANY

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AUSTRALIAN RICE PTY. LIMITED.

This appeal raises for our consideration questions of fact and law concerning the sale of certain goods by the respondent to the appellant. The questions with which we have to deal arose initially in an action brought by the appellant in the Supreme Court of New South Wales to recover damages for breaches of the contract of sale and the appellant, having failed in that action, now brings this appeal and seeks an order that the judgment entered for the respondent should be set aside and that, in lieu thereof, judgment should be entered for it.

The respondent was at all material times engaged in New South Wales in the milling of rice and the appellant, a foreign company registered in that State, was a large purchasing organisation devoted to the purchasing of supplies and equipment required for use by two large UnitedStates companies, Arabian American Oil Company and Trans—Arabian Pipeline Company. In the course of its purchasing activities the appellant, on 12th May, 1952, forwarded to the respondent an order for a quantity of rice and the order, as subsequently amended by "change orders", dated the 15th and 2lst May respectively, was accepted by delivery of a quantity of the subject goods.

It is unnecessary to set out the terms of the appellant's original order in full but it is material to mention that, in form, it consisted in part of a printed document which contained on its face a request to furnish the "materials and/or Services listed on the attached sheets, subject to all terms and conditions shown hereunder, on the reverse side of this sheet and on the accompanying sheets". Thereafter there followed some general instructions as to shipping, packing and marking and payment and on the reverse