LEGAL RIGHTS OF MINORS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 17

LEGAL RIGHTS OF MINORS

Court Case At Rangiora

After legal arguments about the rights of minors to withdraw from contracts had been heard, judgment was given for the defendant from whom a 15-year-old boy sought restitution of £l4 paid as a deposit for a motor-cycle, before Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Rangiora, yesterday. In evidence it was stated that Sonny Mokomoko (Mr A. F. Wilding) had paid £l4 to J. E. Blatchford, aged 19, of Leithfield (Mr A. B. Harman), as a deposit on a motor-cycle, agreeing to pay the balance of the purchase price of £55 in Weekly instalments of £l4. There had been no written agreement on the terms of sale.

About to make the next payment, Mokomoko asked if he could take delivery of the motor-cycle, but was told that he would have to wait till after he had made full payment. Moko had then cancelled the deal and requested hi? deposit back, but the defendant had refused this.

As a result of holding the motorcycle for Mokomoko, Blatchford claimed he had missed the advantage of selling on the high priced pre-Christmas market and he had subsequently had to trade it in for £2O.

Mr Harman submitted that Blatchford should be entitled to retain the deposit to partially offset the loss incurred through holding the motor-cycle for Mokomoko.

Before allowing Mr Wilding to address the Court on the rights of minors to withdraw from contracts, the magistrate, said that there did not appear to be any wrongful breach on the part of the defendant and the question seemed one of whether a minor, after making part payment, could repudiate a contract and reclaim any payment made.

After hearing further legal argument on the matter, the Magistrate said that it was pommon ground that an infant could void a contract, except for necessary substances, as this infant had done by not making further payments. Mokomoko could not recover the deposit, however, as the motorcycle had been kept for him over a period and the defendant had lost the opportunity of two other sales through this.