Goldsbrough Mort & Co Ltd v Quinn (1910) 10 CLR 674
Contract; vitiating circumstances; mutual mistake; effect on consensus.
Facts: Quinn had leasehold rights over certain land and gave Goldsbrough Mort and Co an option to purchase this land at a price of one pound ten shillings per acre 'calculated on a freehold basis'. To convert the land from leasehold to freehold title entailed some expense. Goldsbrough accepted the offer, thinking that Quinn had agreed to pay the costs of conversion. Quinn said that it had not been agreed that he would pay the costs of converting the title as he believed that Goldsbrough would pay these costs.
Issue: Despite the mutual mistake, had there been agreement on who should pay the costs of converting the title to the land purchased by Goldsbrough?
Decision: There had been sufficient agreement.
Reason: Applying the objective test, there was only one interpretation that a reasonable person could put on the words used, i.e. that the seller (Quinn) would pay the costs of conversion. Compare Raffles v Wichelhaus (1864) 2 H&C 906.