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French Consumer Law

A mistake as to motivation unrelated to the object of the contract is, in principle, immaterial. In practice, mistake in motivation is sometimes difficult to distinguish from mistake as to the essential qualities . Thus, according to the courts, a mistake about the conditions for the distribution of a product does not fall within the scope of Article 1133 (former Article 1110)  unlike a mistake ab …

 Mistake as to motivation

A mistake as to motivation unrelated to the object of the contract is, in principle, immaterial. In practice, mistake in motivation is sometimes difficult to distinguish from mistake as to the essential qualities . Thus, according to the courts, a mistake about the conditions for the distribution of a product does not fall within the scope of Article 1133 (former Article 1110)  unlike a mistake about the export possibilities of the product purchased, which justifies the cancellation of the sale .

The Court of Cassation  however, may accept a derogation from the immaterial nature of the mistake as to motivation: “the mistake as to the motivation of the contract external to its subject matter is not a cause of nullity of the agreement, even when this motivation was decisive, unless it was established as a condition of the contract”. In that case, the Court held that “the failure to satisfy the motivation, i.e. the obtaining of tax advantages, even if it was known to the other party, could not lead to the cancellation of a real estate sale, failing an express stipulation that would have put that motivation on a contractual footing by establishing it as a condition of this contract”. Similarly, in a dispute in which a court of appeal had granted the buyer's request for cancellation, for mistake, of the sale of a french fries van that did not have an administrative license to operate, on the grounds that “the lease by which the owner of the land had permitted the french fries truck to park was inseparable from the sale and formally demonstrated that although the object of the sale was a french fries van and not a parking space, it was in consideration of the exercise of a sedentary trade on the leased plot of land that the parties had contracted”, the Court of Cassation had overturned the decision of the trial court, which had ruled “without examining whether the parties had expressly stipulated that this motivation was a condition of the contract” .

In other words, unlike substantial quality  which may be tacitly agreed between the parties and from which the courts may infer that it has came within the contracual sphere, the motivation must be expressly stipulated in a clause to be able to give rise to the annulment of the agreement.

The new Article 1135, paragraph 1, of the Civil Code validates this case-law construction: “the mistake as to mere motivation, external to the essential qualities of the performance or of the contracting party, is not a cause for nullity, unless the parties have expressly made it a decisive element of their consent”.

 Especially when the quality to which the mistake relates is not objectively substantial.

 CA Paris, 9 September 2009, LawLex201200000757JBJ.

 CA Aix-en-Provence, 12 February 2009, LawLex201200000758JBJ.

 Cass. 1re civ., 13 February 2001, LawLex201200000795JBJ.

  Cass. com., 30 May 2006, LawLex200700000125JBJ.

 Cass. 3e civ., 2 October 2013, LawLex201400001904JBJ: a company that demonstrates that it has concluded a lease contract in the mistaken belief that it was going to allow it to exercise its activity without competition in a shopping mall, is entitled to seek its annulment for error on the essential qualities of the object, when the prospect of an advantageous situation, taken into account in the determination of the price of the lease, was a substantial quality of the thing leased included in the contractual sphere, and free of uncertainty.

French Consumer Law

366. Mistake as to motivation

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Les notions juridiques connexes

366. Mistake as to motivation

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise