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Contract

09 October 2008
Issue: 7340 / Categories: Case law , Law digest
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Statoil ASA v Louis Dreyfus Energy Services LP [2008] EWHC 2257 (Comm), [2008] All ER (D) 116

If one party has made a mistake as to the terms of the contract and that mistake is known to the other party, then the contract is not binding. However, if one party has made a mistake about a fact on which he bases his decision to enter into the contract, but that fact does not form a term of the contract itself, then, even if the other party knows that the first is mistaken as to this fact, the contract will be binding.

Thus, the rule that a unilateral mistake means a prima facie agreement is not binding only applies when there is a unilateral mistake as to a contract term. There is no equitable jurisdiction to grant rescission of a contract where one party has made a unilateral mistake as to a fact or state of affairs which is the basis upon which the terms of the contract are agreed, but that assumption does not become a term of the contract.

Issue: 7340 / Categories: Case law , Law digest
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

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