The Justice Files Series is being created to dramatise some of the most famous legal cases that have become enshrined in the law of more than 60 countries. More than 300,000 law students study these cases every year.
Episode 1 ‘Mrs Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.’
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. 1893
(Time-Lock 2021)
The film dramatises perhaps the most important and well known cases in the legal profession concerning contract law. Sales of the Carbolic Smoke Ball had been booming due to the company advertising that correct application of the Carbolic Smoke Ball could prevent contraction of the influenza. The company advertised that they were so certain of claim that they would pay anyone who caught the disease after using the Carbolic Smoke Ball £100. However, they refused to honour this and Mrs Carlill took the company to court.
Episode 2 ‘The Strange Case of the Snail in a Bottle’
Donoghue v Stevenson 1932
(Time-Lock 2022)
‘The Strange Case of the Snail in a Bottle’ is a case involving the discovery of a partly decomposed snail in a ginger beer bottle being consumed in a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, by May Donoghue around 100 years ago. The case went all the way to the House of Lords before Mrs Donoghue finally won her legal battle for damages in 1932. Mrs Donoghue was awarded £200 in compensation, the equivalent of £7,400 today. Her win was established as a legal case study and has been used in every court action where a person suffers injury or loss. Millions of damages actions around the world now regularly begin with the ruling in the Paisley snail case.
