Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] 1 QB 401
Contract; formation; agreement; offer and acceptance; invitation to treat.
Facts: The Boots Cash Chemists shop was organised on a 'self-service' basis: packages of various drugs and medicines were displayed on shelves, with a price marked on each one. Some of these drugs and medicines contained dangerous substances, the sale of which was regulated by legislation requiring that they be sold only under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. Customers who wanted these drugs and medicines selected what they wanted from the shelves and took them to cashiers at the two exits to pay for them. There was a registered pharmacist in the shop who supervised the transactions at the stage where the goods were brought to a cashier for payment. The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain alleged that, in these circumstances, the regulated drugs were being 'sold' without the supervision of a registered pharmacist.
Issue: Were drugs and medicines selected by customers from the display shelves 'sold' to the customer before the customer took them to the cashier?
Decision: No sale of the drugs took place before the customer had taken the goods they had chosen to a cashier. At the cashier, the customer made an offer to buy the goods they had selected at the marked price, and the cashier would accept the offer, thereby bringing a contract into existence. At the time these events took place, they were properly subject to supervision by the registered pharmacist in the shop.
Reason: The display of goods in a shop, even at stated prices, is not to be construed as an 'offer' to sell, which is accepted when a customer selects those goods from the shelves. The display of the goods is construed only as an invitation to customers to select goods and offer to buy them (sometimes referred to as an 'invitation to treat'). The contract of sale is made only at a later stage, when the customer's offer to buy is accepted by the seller.