2022 Contract Law Question 2 — LawShortcut Independent Model Answer
Mary, an officer of an affiliated rally club, moves spectators on her own initiative and people are injured; she and the club want to shelter behind an exclusion clause in the organisers' tickets. The question turns on privity — whether a third party can rely on such a clause at all — and, independently, on whether the words "at the direction of" reach what Mary actually did.
Scenario summary
Mary was Treasurer of a local motor rally club, and was thrilled that the Global Rally Championship was to pass through her town.
The club is an affiliate of the organisation that runs the Championship, and its affiliation obliged it to provide marshalling for the event. Every member of its officer board had to assist, and Mary jumped at the chance to be involved.
The organisation, not the club, sold tickets to the public. Each ticket contained a clause “excluding any liability for harm arising from actions undertaken at the direction of the organisation or its affiliates during the Championship.”
On the day, and on her own assessment of the situation, Mary moved the spectators at her post away from the officially designated viewing point to a place she thought safer. Nobody instructed her to do so.
The area she chose was not in fact safer, and a subsequent accident caused injuries to a number of ticket holders.
Candidates are asked to advise Mary and her rally club whether, in the law of contract, the exclusion clause in the tickets will protect them from any legal action.
This is a LawShortcut scenario summary written in our own words. For the exact examined wording, use the official King’s Inns paper linked above.
What this model answer covers
Issues and structure addressed in the full LawShortcut model answer:
- Issue 1 — Privity: can a third party rely on the exclusion clause?
- Issue 2 — Construction: does the clause cover what Mary actually did?
- Issue 3 — Incorporation, and the limits of a contractual shield
- Overall advice to Mary and the rally club
- Where the 25 marks live — 13 privity and the agency exception, 8 construction, 4 incorporation, tort, structure and conclusion
- Common ways to lose marks
- Authorities relied on
- The reusable answer structure
Read the complete LawShortcut model answer to this question — reading the question, issue spotting, the applicable law, application to the facts and conclusions — inside the King’s Inns Contract Law Model Answer Vault.
Part of the King’s Inns Contract Law Model Answer Vault — 30 independently authored model answers, 2020—2025.
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