Author Andrew Malcolm has lost his fight to get his philosophical work Making Names published by OUP, which he claimed had given him a firm commitment to publish.
The judge ruled that notwithstanding the verbal commitments Mr Malcolm had received, no legally binding contract had been entered into because too many details were missing, and he therefore dismissed the action. The judge added that had he been able to find a binding contract to publish he would have been minded to award substantial damages.
The case centered around telephoned conversations between the author and Henry Hardy, senior editor of OUP's general books division. Mr Hardy gave a verbal commitment to publish Mr Malcolm's book on the condition that certain revisions were made. Mr Malcolm, who had submitted the original typescript in 1984, did not want to embark on any rewriting before he had a commitment to publish.
Mr Hardy gave this assurance in a telephone conversation, but the work was subsequently turned down by an editorial meeting on 17th July 1985. Mr Hardy had been disciplined by OUP for indicating to Mr Malcolm that his book would be published without going through the editorial procedure.
The judge, whose sympathies clearly lay with the author, concluded that no completed contract could be spelt out of what had passed between Mr Hardy and Mr Malcolm.
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