Contract Law - Mistake in equity

What this page is about: Mistake in equity

In certain cases equity will relieve against the consequences of mistake even though the mistake would not vitiate the contract at law. Relief may take the form of rectification, specific performance or rescission.

Rectification may be ordered in the case of a written contract which, by reason of a mistake common to the parties, doesn't represent their previous oral understanding1. This remedy is also available where one party to the written agreement is mistaken regarding whether the writing represents their prior oral understanding, provided that the mistake is known to the other party2; but not otherwise3.

In those contracts where the remedy of specific performance is normally available that remedy may be refused4.

The remedy of rescission5 may be given to set aside a contract if the parties were under a common misapprehension either regarding facts or regarding their relative or respective rights, provided that the misapprehension was fundamental and that the party seeking to set it aside wasn't himself at fault6. Rescission may then be granted upon terms7, but such rescission will rarely be available where the mistake is a unilateral one, unless perhaps the other party in some way contributed to the mistake8.

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Also in this section:

888. Impossibility, frustration and mistake
889. Impossibility and frustration in general
890. Relative impossibility
891. Impossibility caused by a party to the contract
892. Intention of the parties: acceptance of the risk of impossibility
893. Alternative promises
894. Impossibility ab initio
895. Mistake of quality at common law
896. Mistake in equity
897. In general
898. Juristic basis
899. Fault of party: self-induced frustration
900. Ambit of doctrine of frustration: application to particular contracts
901. Leases and sales of land
902. Causes of frustration
903. Death or incapacity of party
904. Contract becoming onerous
905. Matters within scope of contemplation of parties
906. Force majeure clauses
907. What constitutes an act of God
908. Contracts made subject to licence
909. Introduction
910. Time of frustration
911. Frustration of part, or suspension, of a contractual obligation
912. Losses arising from frustration: effect at common law
913. Losses arising from frustration: effect by statute
914. Advance payments and sums accrued due before discharge
915. Payment for valuable benefit obtained
916. Severable provisions
917. Express provisions
918. Insurance moneys
919. Contracts to which the 1943 Act doesn't apply