The goods are not on offer but are said to be an invitation to treat. He said that he wanted to be sure that the offer on the HP website was genuine. While the first plaintiff was the source of the information concerning the price posting, the second plaintiff actively communicated with all of the plaintiffs (save the sixth plaintiff), throughout the material period. 28 In any event, the first plaintiffs commercial background and business experience alone would have amply alerted him to the likelihood of the pricing being a mistake, even without his conversation with Desmond. The fact that the acceptance was automatically generated by a computer software cannot in any manner exonerate the defendant from responsibility. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: This selection of essays, case summaries and dissertations is of relevance to law students within the Commonwealth and for those students who are studying the Rule of Law from outside the Commonwealth . The defendants argued this pricing was a unilateral mistake and that the complainants took advantage of this. Despite their familial relationship, the legal relationship between the two of them was that of agent and principal. If coherence is to be restored to this area of our law, it can only be by declaring that there is no jurisdiction to grant rescission of a contract on the ground of common mistake where that contract is valid and enforceable on ordinary principles of contract law. The decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in, 25 The law of mistake was discussed in depth by McLachlinCJBC in. He placed another order for a further 150 printers at 3.14am, followed by two further orders for 300 printers each at about 3.56am and 3.59am. It was listed at the price of $66, when it was advertised on the official HP website for $3,854. 53 He claimed that seeing the same price on the Digilandmall website confirmed his view that there had been no mistake. The credit card payments had not been processed. This judgment text has undergone conversion so that it is mobile and web-friendly. 140 The defendant has however properly asserted that there was a unilateral mistake that vitiated all the contracts. Cory had chosen this mode of communication; therefore he 27-30 January; 2-6, 9 February; 13 March; 12 April 2004 . 109 This cautious statement by Chitty needs to be carefully reconsidered in the context of recent developments in this area of law. 57 Malcolm Tan is 30 years old and a practising advocate and solicitor. Nor is it disputed that Samuel Teo, or any of the other employees of the defendant, was unaware at all material times of the dramatic chain of events so unwittingly initiated by the former. The issue could be critical where third party rights are in issue as in. 87 It appeared to me that the extract from Singapore Civil Procedure 2003 relied on by the plaintiffs was blindly lifted from earlier editions of the English White Book without any consideration as to how it dovetails with the present procedural climate. This, in a nutshell, is the issue at the heart of these proceedings. The terms of the offer are clear and unambiguous and the offeree accepts the offer according to its true sense, but it must have been obvious (and known by the offeree) that the offeror did not intend to make an offer in those terms. The e-mails had all the characteristics of an unequivocal acceptance. 29 The first plaintiff struck me as an opportunistic entrepreneur. 121 While my views here are not central to my decision, the plaintiffs have adverted to this relationship in a misguided attempt to derail the defence on an arid pleading technicality. He appears to have been in constant communication with the second plaintiff and to have received and read the mass e-mail from the first plaintiff after he placed his first purchase order. I found their attempts to play down the impact of the statements which they had, to all intents and purposes, willingly and deliberately made earlier, unconvincing. Indeed this appears to be the underlying rationale for the unique legal characteristics attributed to an invitation to treat; see. The defendant was entitled to stake its entire defence on the basis of common law, though it would have been prudent ex abundanti cautela to have asserted the equitable position in the alternative. His revelation that he did not know if this is an error or whether HP will honour this purchase, not to mention the articulation of his hope that by the time you see this email, the price is still at S$66.00 coz they might change it anytime, are all compelling in reflecting his state of mind and awareness that an error had occurred. What is urged is that, owing to a common error as to some fundamental fact, the agreement is robbed of all efficacy. On any objective construction, the presumed intention must be that in the context of its confirmatory content, the words call to enquire in the availability portion of the contract related to the timing of the delivery rather than being subject to physical availability of the laser printer or stock. There are two types of orders relevant: market orders and limit orders. There are persuasive arguments against extending the litmus test of unconscionability to all mistake-type situations. Needless to say, this goes to the very heart of the claims sustainability. In the final stage of the process, after the payment mode was indicated, each of the plaintiffs was notified successful transaction your order and payment transaction has been processed. This was borne out by the case of Chwee Kin Keong and Others v. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2004] SGHC 71 where an autogenerated email with "Successful Purchase Confirmation" in its subject . Ltd.1 has the makings of a student's classic for several reasons: it presents a textbook example of offer and acceptance; it is set in the context of internet contracting; it involves the use in evidence of email, instantaneous messaging, and short messaging system (SMS); and it . He has common business interests with the first, third and fourth plaintiffs. In turn, the ICQ chat session involving the first plaintiff and the respective plaintiffs exchange of e-mails played a significant role in undermining their credibility and claims. After hearing their evidence, observing them and considering the submissions made on their behalf, there was no doubt in my mind that they were fully conscious that an unfortunate and egregious mistake had indeed been made by the defendant. The defendants wanted to sell some hare skins to the plaintiffs. They are all well-educated professionals articulate, entrepreneurial and, quite bluntly, streetwise and savvy individuals. I must add that these were far from being ordinary printers for home use. There is one important exception to this principle. In fact, he and the fourth plaintiff have jointly conceptualised and implemented an Internet-related business. I even went to both the HP Web-Site as well as the DigilandMall Web-site to see if the prices were the same. Phang, Controversy in Common Mistake [2003] Conv 247; Reynolds, Reconsider the Contract Textbooks (2003) 119LQR 177. 107 As the law now stands, mistakes that are not fundamental or which do not relate to an essential term do not vitiate consent. This may be too high a price to pay in this area of the law. COOKE v OXLEY (1790) 3 T. R. 653. 72 To effect the purchase transactions on the respective websites, the plaintiffs had to navigate through several web pages. In short, where does the justice reside? 25 The mass e-mail at 2.58am is cursorily dismissed by counsel for the plaintiffs as poor use of language that ought not to be taken literally in light of the early hours of the morning. Having expressed my views on consideration, I should also add for good measure that, in any event, there is ample consideration. The defendant even had its terms and conditions posted on its website. The decision ofV.K. The e-mail was given a high importance priority and captioned go load it now!!. The first and fifth plaintiffs ordered exactly a hundred laser printers each. This is essentially a matter of language and intention, objectively ascertained. He claimed that he had not asked her to do the research and that she had done it independently. His own counsels description of him as careful and prudent only serves to corroborate this. No rights can pass to third parties. 26 I respectfully agree with the reasoning of ShawJ in Can-Dive Services Ltd v Pacific Coast Energy Corp (1995), 21CLR(2d) 39 (BCSC), where he said at 69-70 that: While I agree with what Madam Justice Mclachlin said so far as it goes, I do not believe she intended to imply that there must be a conscious taking advantage by one party of the other in all cases. 147 It is improper for a party who knows, believes or ought, objectively speaking, to have known of a manifest error to seek commercial benefit from such an error. Having ascertained that the laser printer was being advertised at $66, he decided to undertake further online searches through Yahoo.com and Ebay.com. The current general approach is correctly stated in Professor Jeffrey Pinslers Singapore Court Practice 2003 (LexisNexis, 2003) at para20/5/7: An amendment may be allowed even after both parties have made their closing submissions. The appellants featured prominently because of the size of their orders. 50 Ow Eng Hwee, 29 years old, is another network marketing entrepreneur. In my view this further undermines the essence of the plaintiffs case that they never contemplated that the pricing was a mistake. If this rule applies to international sales, is it sensible to have a different rule for domestic sales? The defendant, on the other hand, contends that the law should not penalise a party who has unwittingly and genuinely made a unilateral mistake which was known or ought to have been known by the plaintiffs. In the eyes of Singapore law, purported contracts entered into in similar circumstances are void ab initio. These considerations take precedence over the culpability associated with causing the mistake. Looking for a flexible role? 40 When the fourth plaintiff responded to the first plaintiffs mass e-mail, he copied his response to the second plaintiff. The text of the e-mail further reinforces the point. The product descriptions in all the other pages of the respective websites, at the material time, carried a full detailed description of all advertised products. He was also involved in initiating the Channel NewsAsia report (see [78] and [79], 77 Soon after the defendant informed the plaintiffs that they did not intend to deliver the laser printers, the plaintiffs took their claims to the press. The object of the exercise is to determine what each party intended, or must be deemed to have intended. 1.47K subscribers Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2005] Facts The defendant, Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, were an online IT company that sold related software and hardware from. His credibility on the material points was dubious, at best. 78 In a Channel NewsAsia report datelined 15January 2003, it was reported that: Two of the customers, Mark Yeow and Malcolm Tan, have already spoken to their lawyers. Though the actual price of the laser printer was $3,854, the defendant had on 8January 2003 mistakenly posted the price at $66.00 on its websites. 110 In OT Africa Line Ltd v Vickers Plc [1996] 1Lloyds Rep 700 at 703, ManceJ held that the objective theory ought not to apply if a party had knowledge that a mistake had occurred: The question is what is capable of displacing that apparent agreement. 59 Upon duly accessing the HP website through the hyperlink sent to him by the second plaintiff, the fifth plaintiff ascertained that the laser printer was priced at $66. The element of constructive knowledge based upon what a reasonable person ought to know is premised upon that person not being conscious of the error. Prior to this he was an associate in the Intellectual Property and Technology Department of Allen & Gledhill. Before retiring for the night, the first plaintiff had a further discussion with the second plaintiff on how to store the laser printers they had ordered. It is unequivocally unethical conduct tantamount to sharp practice. If an offeree understands an offer in accordance with its natural meaning and accepts it, the offeror cannot be heard to say that he intended the words of his offer to have a different meaning. - This is also the position as regards friends: see Coward v. MIB (1963). They have taken into account both the English and Australian authorities in distilling the jurisprudence in this area. 17 Having called the second and third plaintiffs at about 2.00am, the first plaintiff also sent them, via e-mail, a weblink of the relevant HP website pages. 44 He made his first purchase of ten laser printers at about 2.42am. This is an online dating and match-making service. The decision of V.K. In such cases, it would be unconscionable to enforce the bargain and equity will set aside the contract. In a physical sale, the merchant can immediately turn down an offer to purchase a product that has been advertised; otherwise he may be inundated with offers he cannot justify. It may be impractical and unjust to demand that the mistaken party actually prove the knowledge of a substantial number of people who effect numerous purchases. *You can also browse our support articles here >. We are only concerned with the question whether relief might be given for common mistake in circumstances wider than those stipulated in Bell v Lever Bros Ltd [1932] AC 161. The court held that the acceptance has been completed once it is posted although here, the defendants actually did not receive the letter before they sold it to someone else. Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall Pte Ltd The defendant, Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, were an online IT company that sold related software and hardware from Singapore. CISG-online is a research platform dedicated to the law and practice of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods adopted in Vienna on 11 April 1980 (CISG), as well as related areas of international commercial law. Consideration was less than executory and non-existent. While this is the general principle for shop displays, it is open to a merchant to offer by way of an advertisement the mechanics of a unilateral or bilateral contract. The other school of thought views the approach outlined earlier with considerable scepticism. 79 The second, third and fifth plaintiffs tried their best to distance themselves from the quotes attributed to them. Transactions over websites are almost invariably instantaneous and/or interactive.
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