Question 2
Unilateral mistake: valid, voidable or void; the painting believed to be an old master
18.75 marks
- Time to write
- About 38 minutes
From an older CBCS paper
Question
Question 2 · 18.75 marksQ.2. “A contract caused by a unilateral mistake may be valid, voidable, or void.” Explain.
Giving reasons for your answer, solve this case: A buys a painting from Y, both believing it to be the work of an old master, and A pays a high price for it. The painting turns out to be no more than a modern copy. Discuss the validity of the contract?
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
Read from the question
- ExplainTie the answer to the quoted statement: say what it means first, and come back to it at the end.
- Giving reasonsEach answer needs its reason, not just the answer.
What the paper leaves open
The paper prints no mark per question (any four of six, equal marks, 75 in all); each question is reckoned here at 18.75 marks.
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 2 min
- 1 Mistake and consent 3 marks 5 min
- 2 Unilateral mistake: valid, voidable, void 8 marks 15 min
- 3 The painting: bilateral mistake of fact 7.8 marks 14 min
- Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min
Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.
Try it first. About 38 minutes for 18.75 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.
Mistake and consent. Section 13 treats persons as consenting “when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense”. An error that goes to the root of the bargain (what is being dealt in, what kind of deal it is, or who the other side is) means the minds never met, so the law finds no true consent. A mistake of fact may be bilateral (both parties mistaken) or unilateral (one party alone).
Unilateral mistake (one party alone mistaken). The statement is correct; the effect depends on the circumstances:
- Valid. As a rule, “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). A party who errs about the value or quality of what he buys bears his own mistake.
- Voidable. Where the mistake of one party was caused by the other's fraud or misrepresentation, the consent is not free, and the contract is voidable at the option of the party misled (ss. 14, 19).
- Void. Where the unilateral mistake is so fundamental that there is no consent at all, as to the nature of the transaction or the identity of the person dealt with where identity is material, there is no agreement and it is void.
The painting. Where both parties to an agreement are mistaken about a fact that is essential to it, the mistake is bilateral and the agreement is void (s. 20); mistake as to the quality of the subject matter is one such case. A and Y both believed the painting to be an old master's work, and the price was fixed on that belief. Their common mistake about this essential quality is a bilateral mistake of fact, so the agreement is void, and A may recover the high price he paid: when an agreement is discovered to be void, whoever received an advantage under it must restore it or make compensation for it (s. 65).
Conclusion. A unilateral mistake normally leaves a contract valid, makes it voidable if induced by the other party, and makes it void if it goes to the very nature of the transaction or the identity of the person; the painting case, a mistake common to both, is void.
Where the 18.75 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mistake and consent | 3 |
| 2 | Unilateral mistake: valid, voidable, void | 8 |
| 3 | The painting: bilateral mistake of fact | 7.75 |
| Total | 18.75 |
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