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Classic court case
How contract law was made from smoke and balls
The 1892 case of Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company is probably one of the best-known judgments in English contract law.
Carbolic stated in an advert a "£100 reward will be paid to any person who after having used the ball three times daily for two weeks... contracts the increasing epidemic influenza, colds, or any diseases caused by taking cold". Mrs Carlill was a woman who had become ill while using the ball and, if a contract had been formed, then the...