Adamson v Glasgow Waterworks Commissioners, 1890 17 R HL 25

Citation:Adamson v Glasgow Waterworks Commissioners, 1890 17 R HL 25

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Rule of thumb:If you genuinely did not understand a contract can you get out of it? Where there has been an essential error made about the nature of the contract by one of the parties, but this is not at all the fault of the other party, this does not constitute an essential error as a matter of law, and the contract is not void.

Background facts:

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Judgment:

This is a seminal case on the principle of essential error in contract law. Even if one of the parties to a contract is confused about the essential points of the contract, this has to have been induced by the other party in order to make a successful legal argument that the contract should be declared void.

Ratio-decidendi:

'The authorities cited, when carefully examined, tell, in my opinion, against the appellant. They shew, I think, that in the case of bilateral obligations it was always considered essential that the error which was said to be taken advantage of by one party to reduce the contract should have been induced by the other party to it', Lord Herschell

'the error ... should have been induced by the other party', Lord Herschell

Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.