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In Re London and Northern Bank ex p Jones (1899)
The applicant applied for 1,000 shares of the corporation on October 15, 1898. He retracted his application by registered mail on October 26. On October 27, the withdrawal arrived around 8.30 am, and the company secretary opened it at 9.30 am. Meanwhile, on October 26, the company's board decided to provide the applicant the shares and accepted his offer in writing. On October 27, at around seven in the morning, the allocation letters were gathered during the night and taken out to be mailed. The letter was given to a postman on a London street at roughly 7.30 am. The letter was sent at 11:00 a.m., based on the postmark.
Holding that the applicant withdrew his offer around 8.30 or 9.30 am, the company was unable to demonstrate that the acceptance of his offer had been posted beforehand. According to Cozens-Hardy J:
The Postal Guide...expressly states that town postmen are not allowed to take charge of letters for the post... I cannot, therefore, regard the postman as anything better than a boy messenger employed by [the company] to post the letters and the mere fact of handing the letter to the postman...was not a posting of the letter.
The applicant applied for 1,000 shares of the corporation on October 15, 1898. He retracted his application by registered mail on October 26. On October 27, the withdrawal arrived around 8.30 am, and the company secretary opened it at 9.30 am. Meanwhile, on October 26, the company's board decided to provide the applicant the shares and accepted his offer in writing. On October 27, at around seven in the morning, the allocation letters were gathered during the night and taken out to be mailed. The letter was given to a postman on a London street at roughly 7.30 am. The letter was sent at 11:00 a.m., based on the postmark.
Holding that the applicant withdrew his offer around 8.30 or 9.30 am, the company was unable to demonstrate that the acceptance of his offer had been posted beforehand. According to Cozens-Hardy J:
The Postal Guide...expressly states that town postmen are not allowed to take charge of letters for the post... I cannot, therefore, regard the postman as anything better than a boy messenger employed by [the company] to post the letters and the mere fact of handing the letter to the postman...was not a posting of the letter.
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