This short but highly significant e-mail reads: Subject: IMPT HP Colour LaserJet going at only $66!! I cannot accept that. I even went to both the HP Web-Site as well as the DigilandMall Web-site to see if the prices were the same. 44 He made his first purchase of ten laser printers at about 2.42am. . 54 The fourth plaintiff admits that he had entertained the idea at the material time that the price posting could have been an error. The defendant also sells HP products on its own website at http://www.digiland.com (the Digilandmall website). Lord Griffiths in, 87 It appeared to me that the extract from, 88 The fact that the amending party has been tardy or even negligent is a factor that a court can (and in some egregious cases, should) take into account but this is by no means a decisive factor (, 95 The known availability of stock could be an important distinguishing factor between a physical sale and an Internet transaction.
PDF Case Note - School of Advanced Study High Court Suit No 202 of 2003. This judgment text has undergone conversion so that it is mobile and web-friendly. Administrative Law in Common Law Countries.
Case Update: B2C2 Ltd v Quoine Pte Ltd [2019] SGHC(I) 3; Quoine v B2C2 142 The plaintiffs were bound by personal relationships as well as past and present common commercial interests. He claims visiting, inter alia, the Epinions and Hardwarezone websites, and though it appears that there was at the material time a discussion thread on the error on the Hardwarezone website, the fourth plaintiff denied having seen this. Again he attempted to minimise the impact of these observations by saying his subsequent searches erased all such doubts. In a, WHILE surfing the Net at about 2am on Monday, MrTan Wei Teck stumbled upon an offer, 82 The plaintiffs strenuously opposed the defendants amendments principally on the ground it was made at a late juncture. hahaha means S$132, Desmond 13/01/20 01:43 even $500 is a steal. There are, however, other sound reasons to argue against such a rule in favour of the recipient rule. Often the essence of good business is the use of superior knowledge. He acknowledged having had conversations with the other plaintiffs about how much money we can sell the printer and how much we can make and about storage space as well as how many units we intend to buy. After the second plaintiff read out some of the terms and conditions he had found, the fifth plaintiff told him that the contract was binding upon a successful purchase order being received. 74 Under product description on each webpage, instead of the actual description of the laser printer which in this case should have been HP9660A Color LaserJet 4600, only the numerals 55 appeared: this was the result of Samuel Teos earlier inadvertent input. To confine this exception to instances of fraud would make the concept of unilateral mistake redundant. 37 The second plaintiff was insistent in his evidence that there was no communication from the first plaintiff alerting him to the likely existence of the mistake; he contends the first plaintiff merely apprised him of a good deal and sent him the weblink to the HP website. Solicita tu prueba. It is pertinent to note that she placed orders for 32 laser printers including 20 units she ordered on behalf of her sister. He conducted the searches to ascertain what the laser printers true price was. He is also described as the sole proprietor and manager of two other businesses that provide business support and consultancy. The plaintiffs refute that the error exonerates the defendant; they insist that a concluded contract is sacrosanct and must be honoured. This is approved in a Singaporean case, Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd . There is no merit at all in this contention. In addition, he despatched e-mails to the fourth and fifth plaintiffs attaching a hyperlink to the HP website. See now, also, 62 Like the second plaintiff, the fifth plaintiff played a pivotal role in the events leading to these proceedings. There are in this connection two schools of thought. Desmond: 13/01/20 01:43 coz the HP laser colour printer sells for at least 3 to 4k outside, Desmond 13/01/20 01:44 from US I heard is about USD 2k, Desmond 13/01/20 01:44 its HP and Laser and Coloured. He was also involved in initiating the Channel NewsAsia report (see [78] and [79] infra). But that, surely, is a question as to where the common law should draw the line; not whether, given the common law rule, it needs to be mitigated by application of some other doctrine.
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. 68 Yeow Kinn Oei is 29 years old and the brother of the third plaintiff. 109 This cautious statement by Chitty needs to be carefully reconsidered in the context of recent developments in this area of law.
29 The first plaintiff struck me as an opportunistic entrepreneur. Whether the parties have reached agreement on the terms is not determined by evidence of the subjective intention of each party. Basic principles of contract law continue to prevail in contracts made on the Internet. An e-mail, while bearing some similarity to a postal communication, is in some aspects fundamentally different. While a court of law does not sit as a court of commercial morality, it cannot lose sight of this central objective of contract law. This can result from human interphasing, machine error or a combination of such factors. There was no element of surprise or prejudice to the plaintiffs as the points raised had already been developed by the defendant and addressed by the plaintiffs. Given its global reach and ever changing technological advancements, Internet usage will pose a myriad of issues for resolution. Mutual promises, by all accounts, on the basis of existing case law, more than amply constitute consideration. I note that Chitty at para5-089, fn25 sagely opines that Taylor v Johnson does not represent English law, at least, where the other party knows that a mistake has been made. Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2005] 1 SLR 502: [2005] SGCA 2 Context: This Case deals with the issue of unilateral mistake. One of the few cases on electronic contract formation in Singapore was Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall. He is currently self-employed and is intimately involved in the multi-level marketing sales of aromatherapy products under the Bel-Air label. The decision of V.K. He then zealously sent at about 2.58am, an e-mail to 54 persons, all of whom were friends and/or business associates. CHWEE KIN KEONG and Others v DIGILANDMALL.COM Pte Ltd (2004) 2 SLR 594. 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. The rigour in limiting this scope is also critical to protect innocent third party rights that may have been acquired directly or indirectly. Most telling of all, I note that the first to fifth plaintiffs exhibited identical reports in each of their affidavits without any qualification whatsoever. The essence is not so much in the nature of the amendment but rather in the consequences flowing from any amendment to the pleadings. Comments Published in English: [2004] 2 SLR 594; [2004] SGHC 71. The law ought to take a practical approach in dealing with such cases if it appears that by exercising reasonable care the true facts ought to be known. With reference to the judgement, the case explores pricing mistakes by online stores.
Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd | India Contract Law 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. The goods are not on offer but are said to be an invitation to treat. 3. Daniel was previously a partner and head of the technology practice at Messrs Rajah & Tann.
[2004 ] SGHC 71 - Court Judgement - Chwee Kin Keong and Others v 27 The first plaintiff obviously took the view that the advertisement should be acted upon urgently. They have taken into account both the English and Australian authorities in distilling the jurisprudence in this area. Altogether, the second plaintiff purchased 180 units, opting for cash on delivery as the payment mode. The ETA is essentially permissive. When the defendant learnt of the error, it promptly removed the advertisement from its websites, and informed the plaintiffs as well as 778 others who had placed orders for a total of 4,086 laser printers that the price posting was an unfortunate error, and that it would therefore not be meeting the orders. 101 RSS Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Expand/Collapse. 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. 144 I find, in the alternative, that the plaintiffs, given each of their backgrounds, would in any event, each have separately realised and appreciated, before placing their purchase orders, that a manifest mistake had occurred even if no communications on the error had taken place between them. The plaintiffs and the defendant later reached an agreement to dispense with any further oral evidence, save for that of Tan Cheng Peng. The second issue was raised by me and touched upon contentions made by both parties in their written submissions. Is this a case of poetic justice?
The Question about Validity of Postal Rule - lawteacher.net In support of the latter it might be argued that unlike a posting, e-mail communication takes place in a relatively short time frame. chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd sghc 71 case number suit decision date 12 april 2004 high court coram rajah jc counsel name(s) tan sok ling Skip to document Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions Republic Polytechnic London School of Business and Finance Having ascertained that the laser printer was being advertised at $66, he decided to undertake further online searches through Yahoo.com and Ebay.com. Notwithstanding some real differences with posting, it could be argued cogently that the postal rule should apply to e-mail acceptances; in other words, that the acceptance is made the instant the offer is sent. Application of such a rule may however result in contracts being formed outside the jurisdiction if not properly drafted. Altogether he sought to purchase 760 units, the largest number of orders placed by anyone between 8 and 13January 2003. 70 The third plaintiff proceeded to place orders on behalf of the sixth plaintiff on the HP website. Unlike instances of fraud, where it is said fraud unravels the existing contract, in instances of unilateral mistake, the very existence of the contract is negatived there is no consensus. It should be noted that while the common law jurisdictions continue to wrestle over this vexed issue, most civil law jurisdictions lean towards the recipient rule. The contract stands according to the natural meaning of the words used. Indeed, in difficult cases, the courts in several common law jurisdictions have gone to extraordinary lengths to conjure up consideration. 85 Having stated the general rule, it is imperative that the rationale underlying this approach be understood. He is also a director and shareholder in a company engaging in wholesale trade, together with the second and third plaintiffs.
Unilateral Mistake in Contract: Five Degrees of Fusion of - Jstor 107 As the law now stands, mistakes that are not fundamental or which do not relate to an essential term do not vitiate consent. The preface I do not know in no way detracts from this; the e-mail being addressed to a large group of 54 persons, the first plaintiff would simply not have wanted to commit himself by saying I know. Other Jurisdictions. The fact that the acceptance was automatically generated by a computer software cannot in any manner exonerate the defendant from responsibility. 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. While they did not invariably admit that their searches were made prior to each of the respective transactions, it was plain that they did not tell the whole truth about, 149 It is clear from the authorities reviewed that such a contract, if entered into by a party with actual or presumed knowledge of an error, is void from the outset. Indeed he had conduct of significant phases of these proceedings on behalf of the plaintiffs. I categorically reject their evidence in so far as it attempts to hermetically compartmentalise their knowledge and discussions. He was aware that the laser printers were targeted for business use. He claimed that when he could not find the identical model on the US HP website he had assumed initially that the laser printer might be obsolete and was therefore being off-loaded cheaply at $66. All previous discussions and negotiations between the parties proceeded on the basis of the price being fixed at so much per piece. When the defendants discovered this mistake on their website, they sent an email to the complainants to say they would not be fulfilling this order. It does not purport to regulate e-commerce but attempts to facilitate the usage of e-commerce by equating the position of electronic records with that of written records, thus elevating the status of electronic signatures to that of legal signatures. In Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, the Singapore Court of Appeal was asked to consider if the decision in Great Peace Shipping also had the effect of excluding equity's jurisdiction . There cannot be any legitimate expectation of enforcement on the part of the non-mistaken party seeking to take advantage of appearances. Cases of fraud and misrepresentation, and undue influence, are all catered for under other existing and uncontentious equitable rules. 33 After his first order, the second plaintiff contacted the fourth and fifth plaintiffs informing them about the laser printers. Offer and acceptances have to reach an intended recipient to be efective. Notwithstanding, the defendant does not take issue with this as the sixth plaintiffs orders were received and the appropriate automated responses generated. After all, what would he do with 100 obsolete commercial laser printers? As a lawyer, he appears to have been indispensable in the plaintiffs attempts to hold the defendant to the bargain. Article24 of the Convention states: For the purposes of this Part of the Convention, an offer, declaration of acceptance or any other indication of intention reaches the addressee when it is made orally to him or delivered by any other means to him personally, to his place of business or mailing address or, if he does not have a place of business or mailing address, to his habitual residence. The elements of an offer and acceptance are, 139 Next, the defendant contends that no consideration passed from the plaintiffs to them. The plaintiffs assert they were not aware of the defendants mistake when they placed their orders, and had believed the offer was genuine.
Chwee Kin Keong Vs | PDF - Scribd Users may find that it may not be as forgiving as more traditional methods of communications. Although a mistaken party will not often be able to discharge the onus of showing that the other party knew or must have known that he or she intended terms different from the terms of the offer or acceptance, it is not a necessary element that the party seeking to enforce the contract has actively contributed to the others mistake.
PDF E-commerce Contract For Sale Of Printers Held Void For Obvious Mistake The e-mails sent at 2.34am were also captioned Go load it now! This constituted more than a quarter of the total number of laser printers ordered. This, in a nutshell, is the issue at the heart of these proceedings. He is also part of the Bel-Air network. 130 It can be persuasively argued that given (a)the historical pedigree of the cases, (b)the dictates of certainty and predictability in the business community and (c)the general acceptance of the existence of distinct common law rules, it is preferable not to conflate these concepts. As this is a critical issue, it is imperative that each of their positions be carefully evaluated.