Business Law
Introduction: Contract law is come from a Latin phrase, which is pacta sunt servanda (pacts must be kept). Everyday, all of us make contracts. It can be a written contract if required, for example when buying a car. On the other hand, the most common of contracts can be and are made orally, like buying from the mini market. A contract intends to make a legal agreement between two or more people or businesses (called parties) that sets forth what the parties will or will not do. Thus, The law recognizes breach of the contract and remedies can be provided. In contracts, mistakes can be found. In the case of finding any mistake, the contract will be voidable and can be sit aside. This essay will carry on the clarification of the unilateral mistake at law, the legal principles relating to mistaken identity and will show up the three cases of Phillips v Brooks, Ingram v Little and Lewis v Avery and how the first two cases could not be reconciled. On the other hand, the analysis of how the apparent conflict between these two cases was resolved by the decision in (Lewis v Avery) will be discused. Body:
Mistakes at law can affect the validity of a contract. The effect of a mistake on the validity of a contract depends on the nature and type of the mistake made. The general rule of the law of mistake is that when the parties have made a mistake. One of the mistakes type at law is the unilateral mistake, it occurs when only one party makes a mistake. The other party to a contract is either aware of that mistake or is deemed to be aware of that mistake.
Mistake as to identity is considered the most common type of unilateral mistake. Mistakes as to identity are generally implemented by fraud in that one of the parties is claiming to be someone else and he is not. Thus, the law considers this situation is overlap with misrepresentation. Any claim based in mistake is more favorable to one based in misrepresentation as the affect of a finding of mistake is that
Mistakes at law can affect the validity of a contract. The effect of a mistake on the validity of a contract depends on the nature and type of the mistake made. The general rule of the law of mistake is that when the parties have made a mistake. One of the mistakes type at law is the unilateral mistake, it occurs when only one party makes a mistake. The other party to a contract is either aware of that mistake or is deemed to be aware of that mistake.
Mistake as to identity is considered the most common type of unilateral mistake. Mistakes as to identity are generally implemented by fraud in that one of the parties is claiming to be someone else and he is not. Thus, the law considers this situation is overlap with misrepresentation. Any claim based in mistake is more favorable to one based in misrepresentation as the affect of a finding of mistake is that
Bibliography: Books: Carter, J, Peden, E and Tolhurst, G, Contract Law In Australia ( 5th ed, 2007). Fraser, D. $ Gibson, A. Business Law (5thed, 2011). Neil Lucas, Law Of Contract (3rd ed, 2001). Furmston, M.P. ‘Mistaken Identity in the House of Lords’ (2004). Research Collection School o Law. Paper 730. [ 6 ]. Mistake as to identity in the Law of Contract (1941) 57 Law Quarterly Recieu; 228. [ 7 ]. Cf.Cundy v. Lindsay (1873) 3 App. Cas. 459 [ 8 ] [ 9 ]. J W Carter, E Peden and G J Tolhurst, Contract Law In Australia ( 5th ed, 2007)F [ 10 ] [ 11 ]. S.Graw, An Introduction to Law of Contract (5 th ed, 2005) 129 [ 12 ]