On 15 April 1918, a man named North entered Phillips' jewellery shop and said, "I am Sir George Bullough".

The earlier judgement of Cundy v Lindsay had established that contracts could be automatically void for mistake to identity.

This principle is different where parties contract face to face; Horridge J stated: I have carefully considered the evidence of the plaintiff, and have come to the conclusion that, although he believed the person to whom he was handing the ring was Sir George Bullough, he in fact contracted to sell and deliver it to the person who came into his shop.

It had the mere effect of making the contract voidable for fraud, meaning that title passed to the rogue and subsequently to the third party buyer: The following expressions used in the judgment of Horridge J seem to me to fit the facts in this case: "The minds of the parties met and agreed upon all the terms of the sale, the thing sold, the price and time of payment, the person selling and the person buying.

The fact that the seller was induced to sell by fraud of the buyer made the sale voidable, but not void.