SUB-CONTRACTORS AND SUB-CONTRACTING 189 



Other terms are sometimes inserted providing for payment by 

 instalments. 



The question of liability largely depends upon whether the 

 contractor was constituted the agent of the employer to employ 

 the sub-contractor or to purchase goods from him, and to 

 establish privity of contract between the employer and such 

 sub-contractor. Where the defendant (a building owner) 

 entered into a contract with a builder, by which the latter 

 agreed to build a house for him under the supervision of an 

 architect, the contract provided that the provisional sums for 

 goods to be ordered from special artists or tradesmen should, 

 as the architect should certify, be payable by the builder or 

 the building owner. 



The exact terms of the clause were that "the provisional 

 sums mentioned in the specification for materials to be 

 supplied or for work to be performed by special artists or 

 tradesmen, or for other works or fittings to the building, shall 

 be paid and expended at such time and in such amounts and 

 to and in favour of such persons as the architect shall direct, 

 and sums so expended shall be payable by the contractor 

 without discount or deduction, or by the employer to the said 

 artists or tradesmen." 



Special goods according to a particular design were ordered 

 by the builder from the plaintiff, who was a metal worker, 

 and the architect certified the sum for these goods as due from 

 the defendant to the plaintiff, deducting the amount from the 

 certificate given to the builder. It was held that the plaintiff 

 was entitled to recover this sum direct from the building 

 owner. (Hobbs v. Turner, 1901, 18 T. L. R. 235.) In the 

 absence of such a clause a specialist or sub-contractor would 

 be compelled to look for his remuneration to the person who 

 directly employed him, namely, the head contractor. 



8. Rights of sub-contractor where head contractor becomes 

 insolvent. Trouble frequently arises in cases where, owing to 

 the insolvency of the builder, the sub-contractor is compelled 

 to look to the building owner. He often makes such a claim 

 without avail ; but by means of a special clause this difficulty 

 may be obviated. So in In re Wilkinson, ex parte Fowler, 

 1905, 2 K. B. 713, a district council entered into a contract 

 with a contractor for the construction of certain sewage works. 

 The contract provided that certain machinery for the works 



