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The law of mistake comprises a group of separate rules in English contract law. If the law deems a mistake to be sufficiently grave, then a contract entered into on the grounds of the mistake may be void. A mistake is an incorrect understanding by one or more parties to a contract. There are essentially three types of mistakes in contract:
The law of mistake in any given contract is governed by the law governing the contract. The law from country to country can differ significantly. For instance, contracts entered into under a relevant mistake have not been voidable in English law since Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris (International) Ltd (2002). [2]
Bell v Lever Brothers Ltd [1931] UKHL 2 is an English contract law case decided by the House of Lords.Within the field of mistake in English law, it holds that common mistake does not lead to a void contract unless the mistake is fundamental to the identity of the contract.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers MR [a] held that the mistake was not sufficiently fundamental to void the contract. The Great Peace would have taken 22 hours to cover 410 miles, but that delay was insufficient to make performance of the contract "essentially different from [the services] the parties envisaged when the contract was concluded".
Raffles v Wichelhaus [1864] EWHC Exch J19, often called "The Peerless" case, is a leading case on mutual mistake in English contract law.The case established that where there is latent ambiguity as to an essential element of the contract, the Court will attempt to find a reasonable interpretation from the context of the agreement before it will void it.
The move to a contextual, or purposive approach to construing contracts is a recent feature of English contract law. For instance in 1911, in Lovell & Christmas Ltd v Wall Lord Cozens-Hardy MR stated, [3] it is the duty of the court… to construe the document according to the ordinary grammatical meaning of the words used therein.
L'Estrange v F Graucob Ltd [1934] 2 KB 394 is a leading English contract law case on the incorporation of terms into a contract by signature.There are exceptions to the rule that a person is bound by his or her signature, including fraud, misrepresentation and non est factum.
Fraudulent misrepresentation, mistake about identity, third party rights Phillips v Brooks Ltd [1919] 2 KB 243 is an English contract law case concerning mistake . It held that a person is deemed to contract with the person in front of them unless they can substantially prove that they instead intended to deal with someone else (see also Shogun ...