test. Lord Diplock gave the first judgment. Lord Bridge gave the leading judgment. He agreed with Lord Denning MR that clause 2 applied to the seeds in question, and that it was a "strained construction" (following Lord Diplock's dicta in Photo Production Ltd v Securicor Transport Ltd to say otherwise. At page 810 he said, On the question of the term's fairness, Lord Bridge held, On the question of fairness, the decisive evidence was that witnesses (for the seedsmen) had said the industry's practice had always been to negotiate damages claims if they seemed genuine and justified. That was clear recognition that the relevant condition would not be fair or reasonable. Lord Scarman, Lord Roskill and Lord Brightman concurred. In the House of Lords, Leonard Hoffmann QC and Patrick Twigg made submissions for George Mitchell and Mark Waller QC made submissions for Finney Lock Seeds. Significance George Mitchell was Lord Denning's last judgment in the Court of Appeal before he retired. His dissenting opinion, which was upheld by the House of Lords, was partly a riposte to the last century of common law, dating back at least to Printing and Numerical Registering Co v Sampson where Lord Jessel MR had propounded freedom of contract as a core public policy. By contrast, Lord Denning thought that the ability of the courts to control unfair terms, now granted through legislation, had made it possible to apply sensible principles when construing contracts. There was no need to twist the meaning of words to reach a fair result, if unfair contract terms could be scrapped on the ground that one party had unequal bargaining power. However, the contra proferentem rule (as used in Houghton v Trafalgar Insurance Co. Ltd to give a "fair result" through an unreasonable interpretation of an exemption clause) still forms part of the European Community's consumer protection law as imposed in the Unfair Consumer Contract Terms Directive. See also English contract law Notes References F Kessler, ‘Contracts of Adhesion – Some Thoughts About Freedom of Contract’ (1943) 43(5) Columbia Law Review 629 Lord Denning cases English unfair terms case law English interpretation case law 1983 in British law House of Lords cases 1983 in case law Cabbage