Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists
[1953] 1 QB 401
판결 이유
The display of goods on a self-service shop shelf is an invitation to treat, not an offer. The customer makes the offer when presenting goods at the cash desk, and the shopkeeper accepts (or may decline) at that point. The contract is formed at the till, not when the customer picks up the item.
사실관계
Boots operated a self-service pharmacy where customers could pick up medicines (including those on the Poisons List) from the shelves and take them to the cash desk. A registered pharmacist was stationed at the cash desk. The Pharmaceutical Society argued that the 'sale' took place when the customer removed the item from the shelf, at which point no pharmacist was supervising.
판결 요약
The Court of Appeal held that the display of goods was an invitation to treat. The customer's act of placing goods in their basket was an offer to buy, which the shopkeeper could accept or reject at the cash desk. Since a pharmacist was present at the point of sale (the cash desk), Boots had complied with the law.
주요 인용문
"The mere fact that a customer picks up a bottle of medicine from the shelves in this case does not amount to an acceptance of an offer to sell. It is an offer by the customer to buy."
— Somervell LJ
후속 처리
Consistently cited as the leading authority on the distinction between offers and invitations to treat in retail settings.
Applied alongside Fisher v Bell [1961] regarding display of goods in shop windows.