Time for a short piece on contract law:
Since most radio adverts end with a breathless "Ts & Cs apply", it is worth examining the difference between Terms and Conditions.
A term is any provision in a contract and, according to the Sales of Goods Act 1979, terms may be either conditions or warranties.
* A condition is a term whose breach entitles aggrieved parties, at their option, to cancel (or "repudiate") the contract".
* A warranty is a term whose breach entitles aggrieved parties to compensatory damages, but gives no right to cancel.
* Both conditions and warranties may give the claimant the right to damages, provided that the breach caused foreseeable loss.
* If one is not yet sure whether a term is a condition or warranty, it is called an "innominate term" for the time being.
At its simplest one may think of terms and conditions as, respectively, major or minor terms.
However, it is more accurate to say that a term will be a condition if its breach denies the plaintiff (claimant) the main benefit of the contract"; whereas a breach of warranty is a minor breach which does NOT substantially deny the main benefit. (Hong Kong Fir Shipping v Kawasaki [1962] )
* An innominate term may prove to be either a condition or warranty once the seriousness of the breach is established.
So adverts need only say either "T's apply", or "Cs & Ws apply"!!