The great case of "Williamson v. Barbour," in the Rolls.
Court, terminated on Wednesday, Sir George Jessel deciding in favour of the plaintiffs. Messrs. Williamson and Co., Calcutta merchants, sought to reopen the accounts between them and Messrs. Barbour and Co., of Manchester, for the past twenty years. Messrs. Barbour were their agents, and theyalleged that the agents had,while professing only to charge commission, made a great variety of minute profits on purchases, insurances, discounts, pack- ing, &c., to which they were not entitled, and which amounted in the aggregate to more than £100,000. The defence was that Messrs. Bar- bour had followed the custom of the trade, which permits such over- charges, and that Messrs. Williamson knew all about them. Sir George Jesse!, in a lengthy judgment of extraordinary clearness and vigour, decided that Messrs. Williamson did not know, that no trade custom could override the plain provisions of law and right, and that the accounts must be reopened. It is said that the investi- gation of the accounts in Chambers will take ten years, after which will come an appeal. It is alleged that most commission agents in the North are affected by the judgment, and that the present bad system, under which exporters are at once agents and dealers on their own account, must be given up.
Previous page
