Talk:Making off without payment

Australia

Also several Australian jurisdictions, including the ACT, Vic, and Federal, patterned on the UK law. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.206.162.148 (talk) 04:53, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Restaurants are not a good example.

The law on eating out in England and Wales and Scotland is somewhat different from most contracts of supply. Unlike most contracts of supply where there is a simple contractual obligation to pay for the goods supplied, this is not the case in a restaurant. When you order food in a restaurant, there is no obligation to pay unless the diner deems that the quality of the food and service is of a standard that justifies the price (this is, in fact, the actual contractual term). If the diner does not consider that the quality is satisfactory, then he is under no obligation to pay the bill, or at least not all of it.

The restaurateur's only option for a diner who does not pay is to sue for his money in the civil courts as no criminal offence has been committed (though it would probably cost him more in legal costs than he is suing for as he cannot recover his costs for such a small amount - if he were to win). From the diner's point of view, it is better to pay some of the bill making an appropriate deduction for the shortcoming as a court may well regard failure to pay anything as unreasonable unless the food really was unacceptable. Any service charge can always be deducted as it is an optional charge even if specifically mentioned on the menu.

It should be noted that if the diner enters the restaurant having already made the intention not to pay, then a criminal offence is committed (attempting to gain a pecuniary advantage by deception), though the onus is on the restauranteur to prove it which is difficult unless the restaurateur is a mind reader.

Sources: Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and Consumer Rights Act 2015 (this latter superseded an earlier law which said essentially the same thing). 86.188.36.150 (talk) 14:23, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

I thought this was a general article about leaving a restaurant without paying, and not one specific to England/the other places named here. I have restored your initial edit, please accept my apologies. 331dot (talk) 14:29, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

The first line makes it region specific so not a general article. Applicable to England and Wales and Scotland. We have no evidence on ROI or Hong Kong, but most legislation in these places was originally based on E&W law though much has diverged since. 86.188.36.150 (talk) 14:34, 17 December 2021 (UTC)