Mistake - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition mistake

Definition :

Mistake, misconception, error.

Money paid under a mistake of a material fact, as where a person discounts a forged bill, is recoverable (though a banker paying the forged cheque of a customer cannot charge the customer with the loss), and see Jones & Co. v. aring & Gillow Ltd., 1926 AC 670; but money paid under a mistake of law is ordinarily not recoverable, Holt v. Markham, (1923) 1 KB 504, though there is an exception in the case where an officer of a Court or a trustee in bankruptcy has received the money [Ex P. Simmonds, (1885) 16 QBD 308]. A contract is not voidable because it was caused by a mistake as to any law in force in India; but a mistake as to a law in force in India has the same effect as a mistake of fact. (The Indian Contract Act, 1872, s. 21)

It is a common condition of the sale of land that any error or misdescription shall not vitiate the sale, and mayor may not be made the subject of compensation, and this condition applies whether an error complained of was discovered before or after completion of the purchase, Palmer v. Johnson, (1884) 13 QBD 351; but where the misdescription is so serious as to go to the root of the contract, the condition will not assist the vendor, Flight v. Booth, 1 Bing NC 370.

Contracts may be rectified so as to carryout the intentions of the contracting parties where they have been drawn up, by reason of a mutual mistake, to an effect militating against the intentions of both, Beale v. Kyte, (1907) 1 Ch 564; and in some cases a contract may be cancelled on the ground of one of the parties having entered into it by mistake. The rectification, or setting aside, or cancellation of written instruments is part of the business assigned to the Chancery Division of the High Court. [(English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 56, replacing Jud. Act, 1873, s. 34]

In criminal cases a mistake of fact may be an excuse, as when a man, intending to do a lawful act, does that which is unlawful [cf. Proviso, s. 28(1), (English) Road Traffic Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 43)], and acting upon an honest and reasonable belief in the existence of facts, which, if true, would make his act lawful.

Under the (English) Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, s. 14 (1) (b), failure to make a claim within the period specified is not a bar to proceedings if occasioned by mistake. The mistake contemplated is a mistake of fact which 'arises from the belief that facts exist when they do no. an expectation which is not fulfilled is not a mistake', Griffiths v. Atkinson, 5 BWCC 345 (348).

A mistake may be unilateral or mutual but it is always unintentional. If it is intentional it ceases to be a mistake, West Bengal Electricity Board v. Patel Engg. Co. Ltd., AIR 2001 SC 682 (692): (2001) 2 SCC 451.