Robinson v Harman (1848) 1 Ex 850. Parke B''s formulation: damages place the claimant in the position they would have been in had the contract been performed. The orthodox principle.
Hadley v Baxendale (1854) 9 Exch 341. The miller''s broken crank shaft was sent to the defendant carrier for return to the manufacturer; the defendant''s delay caused the mill''s shutdown; the miller sued for the lost profits during the shutdown. The Court of Exchequer held that the lost profits were not recoverable: they were not (a) a natural consequence of the breach (the carrier could not be expected to know that the mill would be shut down) nor (b) within the parties'' contemplation at the time of contracting (the carrier had not been told that the mill would be shut down without the shaft). The two-limb remoteness test.
Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd [1949] 2 KB 528. The defendant''s breach in delivering a boiler late delayed the laundry''s expansion. The Court of Appeal held that ordinary lost profits during the delay were recoverable (first limb), but extraordinary profits from a particular government contract that the laundry would have secured were not (second limb — the defendant had not been told of the contract). Asquith LJ at 539 articulated the modern formulation of Hadley v Baxendale.
The Heron II [1969] 1 AC 350. The defendant ship-owner''s late delivery of sugar caused the claimant to miss a market peak. The House of Lords held that the lost profit was recoverable: a market drop during voyage was a foreseeable risk. The case is significant for emphasising the difference between contract remoteness (the loss must be a serious possibility, ''not unlikely'') and tort remoteness (the loss need only be reasonably foreseeable).
Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc (The Achilleas) [2008] UKHL 48. A late return of a chartered ship caused the owners to lose a particularly valuable follow-on charter. The House of Lords held that the lost profit was not recoverable: the loss was foreseeable but the charter market''s practice was that late-return liability was confined to the difference between charter rate and market rate during the overlap period. The court introduced the assumed-responsibility qualification: damages are recoverable only for losses of a type for which the defendant assumed responsibility.
Anglia Television Ltd v Reed [1972] 1 QB 60. The actor Robert Reed (Brady Bunch fame) repudiated his contract with Anglia to star in a film. The film was never made. Anglia sued for the wasted expenditure (development costs; pre-production costs). The Court of Appeal held that the reliance measure was available where expectation could not be calculated: lost profits on the unmade film were too speculative.
C & P Haulage v Middleton [1983] 1 WLR 1461. The claimant sublet premises that he had wrongly been led to believe were within his licensee''s power to sublet. He sued in contract for wasted expenditure on the premises. The Court of Appeal held that the reliance measure was unavailable: the contract would have produced a loss for the claimant in any event, and the wasted expenditure would have been absorbed by the loss.
Ruxley Electronics & Construction Ltd v Forsyth [1996] AC 344. A swimming pool was built nine inches shallower than specified; the cost of demolition and reconstruction was £21,560; the diminution in value of the property was nil. The House of Lords held that the cost of completion was disproportionate; the diminution in value was the appropriate measure. The court awarded £2,500 for ''loss of amenity'' as a separate head. The case establishes the modern test: where cost of completion is disproportionate to the benefit, diminution in value is the measure; loss of amenity may supplement.
Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd [1974] 1 WLR 798. The defendants built houses in breach of a restrictive covenant. The claimants suffered no diminution in value (the houses had been built and demolition would be wasteful). Brightman J awarded damages calculated as the sum the claimants could reasonably have demanded for waiving the covenant (5 per cent of the developer''s anticipated profit). The case established the negotiating-damages measure.
Attorney General v Blake [2001] 1 AC 268. The defendant, a former MI6 officer who had defected to the USSR, published a memoir in breach of his contractual duty of confidentiality. The Crown sought an account of profits. The House of Lords held that an account of profits was an exceptional contract remedy available where the claimant had a legitimate interest in preventing the profit-making activity. The case has been confined in subsequent authority and is now treated as a narrow exception.
Morris-Garner v One Step (Support) Ltd [2018] UKSC 20. The defendants breached non-compete covenants in a sale-of-business agreement. The claimant sought Wrotham Park damages. The Supreme Court clarified the doctrinal basis: negotiating damages are available where the claimant has lost a valuable asset (e.g. exclusive use of a brand, restrictive covenant) that could have been monetised through release. They are not a free-standing alternative to expectation damages in ordinary commercial cases. The case substantially confined the use of Wrotham Park.