Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd
[1997] AC 749 · House of Lords · 1997
The question
Does a notice fail because of a mistake in it, or is it read as a reasonable recipient would understand it?
What was held
Notices are construed objectively: what would a reasonable recipient, with knowledge of the context, understand the notice to mean? An obvious slip that misleads nobody does not destroy the notice — though a statutory notice must still do what the statute requires.
For a landlord
Get the notice right, but a clerical error that cannot mislead is usually survivable.
For a tenant
Do not stake your position on a typo. Look instead for a defect that goes to a statutory requirement — wrong dates, wrong parties, missing prescribed content.
The provisions this turns on
Apply it to your matter
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Case summary for general guidance only, not legal advice. Judgments turn on their own facts and later decisions may qualify them — check the primary transcript before relying on any point in correspondence or proceedings.