Misrepresentation Mistake And Non Disclosure

This book fully explains the role of Misrepresentation in Contract Law. It further expands on the role of Mistake and Non-disclosure in a contractual dispute and formally comments on the general duties of negotiating parties.

English law, unlike in Europe and in the US, seldom gives relief when a party to a contract finds that she has entered the contract under a serious mistake about the subject matter or the facts. This book argues that small businesses suffer as a result, and proposes possible solutions, including adopting the proposed Common European Sales Law.

In this book Hugh Beale examines the case for reforming the law on mistake and non-disclosure of fact to bring English law closer to the law in much of continental Europe. There, and in common law countries like the US, a party may avoid a contract for mistake of fact on a more liberal basis, and a party who deliberately keeps silent knowing that the other party is making a mistake may be guilty of fraud. This is not necessarily the case in England and Wales. Developing a proposal for law reform, the author concedes that the English courts require a law that puts great emphasis on certainty and expects parties to look out for their own interests; but posits that this individualistic approach is not suitable for smaller businesses which are less sophisticated and which are likely to be making low value contracts, so that relative cost of taking advice will be high. He argues that the solution may not be to reform English contract law generally, but to support the development of an optional instrument on contract law, along the lines of the Common European Sales Law recently proposed by the European Commission. This measure is aimed specifically at the needs of small and medium enterprises, and contains the protective rules found in the other jurisdictions. It is aimed primarily at cross-border sales, but Member States would be given the option of adopting it for domestic transactions too. This would give small businesses the choice of using the current "hard-nosed" law or adopting the more protective optional instrument, recognizing that different parties require different things from the law governing their contract.

The Current Law Case Citators provide a quick reference guide to all case law since 1947 - showing if a case has ever been applied, considered, explained, approved, overruled or even referred to

Vitiation of Contracts proposes a new theory to explain the rationale of general vitiating factors in English contract law. It provides a clear link to voluntariness as the foundation of contractual liability and compares the English position, in light of this theory, with the Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC), the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL), the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) and the US Restatement (Second) of Contracts.

In this book Hugh Beale examines the case for reforming the law on mistake and non-disclosure of fact to bring English law closer to the law in much of continental Europe. There, and in common law countries like the US, a party may avoid a contract for mistake of fact on a more liberal basis, and a party who deliberately keeps silent knowing that the other party is making a mistake may be guilty of fraud. This is not necessarily the case in England and Wales. Developing a proposal for law reform, the author concedes that the English courts require a law that puts great emphasis on certainty and expects parties to look out for their own interests; but posits that this individualistic approach is not suitable for smaller businesses which are less sophisticated and which are likely to be making low value contracts, so that relative cost of taking advice will be high. He argues that the solution may not be to reform English contract law generally, but to support the development of an optional instrument on contract law, along the lines of the Common European Sales Law recently proposed by the European Commission. This measure is aimed specifically at the needs of small and medium enterprises, and contains the protective rules found in the other jurisdictions. It is aimed primarily at cross-border sales, but Member States would be given the option of adopting it for domestic transactions too. This would give small businesses the choice of using the current "hard-nosed" law or adopting the more protective optional instrument, recognizing that different parties require different things from the law governing their contract.

The validity of a contract can be undermined by factors affecting contractual consent. Issues of contractual validity frequently arise for consideration in all types of litigation, not least commercial disputes. This book provides practitioners and academics with an invaluable reference tool, which will enable them to navigate the complex issues of vitiation of contract. When contractual disputes arise, there are a variety of vitiating factors which may be relied on to undermine a contract’s validity. This book provides a comprehensive examination of all the factors vitiating contractual consent from fraud, misrepresentation, non-disclosure, and mistake, to duress, undue influence, unconscionable bargains, and includes chapters on incapacity and unfairness. Each chapter gives a thorough account of the law on each of these vitiating factors, together with an overview of the remedies available. The book’s introduction considers the theoretical foundations of the law in this area. The book will be an invaluable reference tool for lawyers involved in all types of contractual disputes. It will also be a useful reference for academics and postgraduate students of commercial law.