First Principles of Business Law

Circumstances that may invalidate a legal transaction

5. Mistake

5.4. Common mistake concerning quality

 

 

 

Read the facts and the question and then choose the best answer.

A, a collector of antique furniture, sees an oak chest in B's shop. A discusses the chest with B, and they inspect it closely. They agree that it is a genuinely old Dutch sailor's chest and, as such, it is worth at least $5,000. A agrees to buy the 'antique Dutch chest' for $5,000, pays B and takes it home. It later turns out that the chest is not genuinely old: it is a very good but modern copy of an old chest, and is worth only about $500.

Can A avoid the contract on grounds of the mistake made by himself and B, return the chest and recover the amount paid?

 

(a) Yes, because the chest is not what it was supposed to be, that is, a genuinely old chest.

(b) No, because the chest bought is similar enough in reality to what it was thought to be - it is the same category of thing that was bought and sold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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