Question 1 (b)

Mistake can make an agreement void, a contract valid, or a contract voidable

6 marks

Time to write: About 12 minutes

From an older CBCS paper

Question

Question 1 (b) · 6 marks

Mistake results in a contract being void, valid, and voidable as well. Elucidate.

Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.

Before you write

Read off the question and its marks

12 minfor 6 marks

Read from the question

ElucidateA statement to explain: say what it means first, then build the answer around it.

Write it in this order

Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
1 Void: bilateral mistake (s. 20) 2 marks 3 min
2 Valid: unilateral mistake (s. 22) 2 marks 3 min
3 Voidable: mistake induced by misrepresentation 2 marks 3 min
Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min

123

Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.

Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.

Solution

Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.

Void: bilateral mistake of fact. Where both “parties to an agreement are under a mistake as to a matter of fact essential to the agreement” (its existence, identity, quality, title, quantity or price), the agreement is void (s. 20). A mistake of foreign law is treated in the same way.

Valid (as a rule): unilateral mistake and mistake of Indian law. “A contract is not voidable merely because it was caused by one of the parties” being under a mistake as to a matter of fact (s. 22); nor does a mistake as to Indian law make it voidable. As a rule such a contract stays valid; the unilateral mistake induced by the other party is the voidable case below.

Voidable: mistake caused by the other party. Misrepresentation includes “causing, however innocently, a party to an agreement to make a mistake as to the substance of the thing which is” its subject (s. 18(3)), and an agreement whose consent was caused by fraud or misrepresentation is voidable at the option of the party misled (s. 19). A mistake induced by the other party thus makes the contract voidable. Where the consent was caused by misrepresentation, or by silence that is fraudulent within s. 17, the contract is nevertheless not voidable if the party misled had the means of discovering the truth with ordinary diligence (Exception to s. 19); the exception does not reach an active fraud.

Conclusion. The effect of mistake depends on its kind: a bilateral mistake of fact makes the agreement void, a unilateral mistake by itself leaves the contract valid, and a mistake induced by the other party makes it voidable (unless, in a case of misrepresentation or fraudulent silence, the party misled could have found out the truth with ordinary diligence).

Where the 6 marks sit

#	Component	Marks
1	Void: bilateral mistake (s. 20)	2
2	Valid: unilateral mistake (s. 22)	2
3	Voidable: mistake induced by misrepresentation	2
	Total	6

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