Of the three main areas of the law of contract identified in Figure 4.11, above: (1) making it; (2) living it (keeping it); (3) ending it, the case under consideration concerns ‘ending it’, and of the various ways noted, it concerns ending it by breaking it due to a wrongful act. In other words, it is concerned with what should happen under the contract to compensate the claimant. (The claimant is the person or company complaining and bringing a case in the civil courts.) Usually, contracts contain provisions that lay down the compensation payable to one party if the other party breaks the contract by not doing what he or she says will be done. The contract in George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds is no exception. However, to ascertain properly what the main issues are in the case it has to be broken into with some determination. This case has been specifically chosen for several reasons: • it is short; • there is only one main, agreed judgment by Lord Bridge; • the issues discussed are highly complex; • the case involves consideration of both common law rules and statutory rules operating side by side; • it links into the work already discussed in Chapter 3; • it links into Chapter 6. 4.5.2.2 Stage 1: the basic reading Any student successfully breaking into this case and comprehending the methodology will be able to use methodology to break into other cases. The case study requires the reader’s active engagement and asks for certain tasks to be carried out. It is divided into four stages. Stage 1 involves skim reading, stage 2 involves checking the skim reading and making a first note of Lord Bridge’s judgment, stage 3 spends time considering the issues in the case, stage 4 is concerned with a paragraph by paragraph summary of the judgment of Lord Bridge. This stage also involves a ‘statutory diversion’ looking at the statutory references brought up in the case. The final section of this chapter discusses case noting and uses George Mitchell as the case to be noted. (1) Turn to Appendix 1. (2) Read the case of George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds as quickly as you can. If this takes you more than 60 minutes you need to work on your reading strategies generally. (3) As you read, note how paragraphs begin and end, as these are often indicators of the progression of discussion or argument. (4) Carefully register differences in language as you move from the information packed first pages through to the different judgments. • Be aware of the use of any technical language. • Look up non-technical words you do not understand in a good dictionary.