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He appeared to be consummately familiar with Internet practices and was forced to concede that he thought it was weird and unusual when he saw the number 55 on the relevant webpages in place of the actual product description. In Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR (R) 594 (" Digilandmall.com "), the plaintiffs concerned placed orders over the Internet for a total of 1,606 Hewlett Packard commercial laser printers on the defendant (seller's) websites. The e-mails had all the characteristics of an unequivocal acceptance. 9 The defendants assertion that Samuel Teo had neither the authority nor the intention to make any alterations to the laser printers price is now accepted by the plaintiffs. . Scorpio: 13/01/20 01:46 hahahaha yeah lor .. aiyah why u only buy 3????? As this is a critical issue, it is imperative that each of their positions be carefully evaluated. One of the few cases on electronic contract formation in Singapore was Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall. The goods are not on offer but are said to be an invitation to treat. As part of its business, it operates a website owned by Hewlett Packard (HP) at http://www.buyhp.com.sg (the HP website) where only HP products are sold. Merchants may find their contracts formed in foreign jurisdictions and therefore subject to foreign laws. Not all one-sided transactions or bargains are improper. hahaha means S$132, Desmond 13/01/20 01:43 even $500 is a steal. v . Rajah J.C. in the Singapore High Court in Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte. Samuel Teo had used all these notional numerals on the training template. 63 It is pertinent he too made web searches using the Google search engine. This view seems to suggest that principles of equity invariably provide an equally strong but more elastic second string to the bow. I must add that I did not really think this was necessary and subsequent events confirmed my perception. These statements are not to be interpreted as a clarion call to rewrite commercial agreements because of a partys unreasonable or ignoble behaviour. 61 The fifth plaintiff placed an order for 100 laser printers at about 3.51am. He was also involved in initiating the Channel NewsAsia report (see [78] and [79] infra). This gives their courts a broad and elastic jurisdiction to deal with commercially inappropriate behaviour. Claiming he was in a light-hearted kind of mood during his ICQ (acronym for I-Seek-You) conversation with Desmond, he insisted that this conversation should be taken neither seriously nor literally. 129 The careful analysis of case law undertaken by that court yields a cogent and forceful argument that Lord DenningMR was plainly attempting to side-step Bell v Lever in a naked attempt to achieve equitable justice in the face of the poverty of the common law. In short, where does the justice reside? 21 The first plaintiff must have realised at the outset that he would have to explain with a certain measure of credibility the purport and significance of all his Internet communications between 1.00am and 3.00am on 13January 2003. He claims visiting, 62 Like the second plaintiff, the fifth plaintiff played a pivotal role in the events leading to these proceedings. High Court and Court of Appeal, recently, in a number of case . This provision acknowledges that the essential framework of an electronic contract needs to be considered in the usual manner; in other words, principles of contract formation, consideration, terms and conditions, choice of law and jurisdictional issues need to be examined. Has an agreement been reached or not? I find it inconceivable, to say the least, that the fifth plaintiff would have placed an order for 100 laser printers without the conviction that it was in fact a current market model with a real and substantial resale value. However, if the defendant did not have stock, it would immediately call the supplier and procure the products for the end-user. The law of mistake has generated its own genre of mistakes and obfuscation. 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. The later the amendment, the greater the adverse consequences. This may be too high a price to pay in this area of the law. 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. The purpose of the amendments was merely to regularise the pleadings and indeed they went no further than to summarise evidence and submissions that had already been raised. Case Summary 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. Given his professional and business background, he must have realised that the $66 price posting on the HP website was an error. However, not all principles will or can apply in the same manner that they apply to traditional paper-based and oral contracts. This can be before or during the trial, or after judgment or on appeal. The individualistic ethic seeks to maximise individual goals and the community ethic seeks to set norms for commercial morality and to ensure that fair dealing and community cohesiveness are observed and maintained. The affidavits did not add anything new. 86 In cases where the facts raised in the proposed amendments have been addressed during the evidence and submissions and, particularly, where the opposing side has also had an opportunity to address the very same points, there can hardly ever be any real prejudice. Pages 74 Ratings 100% (5) 5 out of 5 people found this document helpful; I found his entire evidence relating to his communication with the first and other plaintiffs unsatisfactory and in many aspects incredulous. This short but highly significant e-mail reads: Subject: IMPT HP Colour LaserJet going at only $66!! The complainants argued that they were not aware that this price was a mistake and wanted the binding contract to be fulfilled. June Proctor, 1997, p. 13. The defendant is therefore entitled to recover in full its taxed costs from the plaintiffs. This is one of the first prominent case that deals with the issue of web based contract. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR(R) 594, Rajah JC (as . The programme trigger on that website automatically and instantaneously initiated the insertion of similar contents onto all three websites. Normally, however, the task involves no more than an objective analysis of the words used by the parties. Chwee Kin Keong and Others v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2005] SGCA 2 Civil Procedure Costs , Civil Procedure Pleadings , Contract Mistake Decision Date: 13 Jan 2005 . 119 It is apparent from this overview that the Canadian courts have integrated through their equitable jurisdiction the concept of common law mistake within the rubric of unconscionability. 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. 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. Rajah J.C. in the Singapore High Court in Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte. 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. Upon accessing the Digilandmall website and confirming that the printer was offered there at $66 as well, he placed a further order for 25 laser printers through that website at about 3.29am. Please refer to the PDF copy for a print-friendly version. [The Myth of Mistake in the English Law of Contract (1954) 70LQR 385 at 396]. In Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd ,1 one of the defendant's employees mistakenly uploaded the contents of a training template onto the defendant's website, resulting in the retail price of S$3,854 for a commercial laser printer on the website being replaced with the figure S$66. Rajah J.C. in the Singapore High Court in Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte. It is significant that some of the plaintiffs had never made any prior Internet purchases before that eventful morning. 10 News of the rather extraordinary laser printer pricing began to spread like wildfire within the local Internet community. There is no doubt that the plaintiffs acted with indecent haste in the dead of the night in placing as many orders as each of them felt their financial resources credibly permitted them to do. The web merchant, unless he qualifies his offer appropriately, by making it subject to the availability of stock or some other condition precedent, could be seen as making an offer to sell an infinite supply of goods. Further, the character of the mistake was such that any reasonable person similarly circumstanced as each of the plaintiffs would have had every reason to believe that a manifest error had occurred. Having noted all this, I am nevertheless inclined towards the views expressed in the Great Peace Shipping case for the reasons articulated by Lord PhillipsMR. 7 At about 3.36pm, Samuel Teo, an employee of DIL, inadvertently uploaded the contents of the training template onto the Digiland commerce website operated by DIL, in place of the test website allocated for the training. It is not necessary to prove actual knowledge on the part of the non-mistaken party in order to ground relief, as in this context one is taken to have known what would have been obvious to a reasonable person in the light of the surrounding circumstances: Hartog v Colin and Shields [1939] AllER 566 (KBD); McMaster University; Stepps Investments, supra; Taylor, supra. COOKE v OXLEY (1790) 3 T. R. 653. 96 In an Internet sale, a prospective purchaser is not able to view the physical stock available. This is a case about predatory pack hunting. The plaintiffs are, however, entitled to the cost of the amendments, in any event, which I fix at $1,000. Just as the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943 was needed to temper the effect of the common law doctrine of frustration, so there is scope for legislation to give greater flexibility to our law of mistake than the common law allows. 137 Furthermore, from the evidence adduced, it became clear that the defendant had intentionally put the words call to enquire instead of, say, the phrase subject to stock availability in an attempt to entice would-be purchasers to place orders with them. 140 The defendant has however properly asserted that there was a unilateral mistake that vitiated all the contracts. I note that there have been powerful arguments made to the contrary. 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. In principle, there is no difference between amending particulars and amending say, a cause of action, defence or any other part of substance in a pleading. 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. 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. There is no larger noble principle, such as the sanctity of contracts, to be observed or protected in these proceedings. 141 In so far as the sixth plaintiff is concerned, I emphasise that his knowledge and/or conduct of should be equated with that of the third plaintiff. He sought to amend his affidavit and testified that if the references in his affidavit implied the acknowledgement of a mistake, they were formulated not by him but by his previous solicitors and were incorrect. High Court Suit No 202 of 2003. The first, second and third plaintiffs have been friends for a long time and are bound by common business interests. The recipients of this e-mail included the second, fourth, fifth plaintiffs and Tan Cheng Peng, the third plaintiffs girlfriend. Daniel was previously a partner and head of the technology practice at Messrs Rajah & Tann. His credibility on the material points was dubious, at best. 114 For good measure, I should allude that the plaintiffs in their written submissions concede that in order to establish that mistake is operative at common law, the defendant has to show in this instant case that the plaintiffs each had actual or constructive knowledge of the mistaken pricing. 105 It is not only reasonable but right that the objective appearance of a contract should not operate in favour of a party who is aware, in the eyes of the law, of the true state of affairs when, for instance, there is real misapprehension on the part of the mistaken party and when the actual reality of the situation is starkly obvious. Furthermore, they relied on a passage from Singapore Civil Procedure 2003 (Sweet & Maxwell Asia, 2003) at para20/8/47 that asserts: At the trial leave to amend particulars will as a rule be refused (Moss v Malings (1886) 83ChD 603). 117 It should be emphasised that this stream of authority is consistently recognised by all the major common law jurisdictions. It appears that it wanted to leave no stone unturned and had therefore mounted a root and branch attack on the plaintiffs claims. 34 He also visited the Digilandmall website to familiarise himself with their standard terms and conditions. The first plaintiffs purchase took place soon after the ICQ conversation with Desmond where Desmond had in no uncertain terms pitched the price of the laser printer between $3,000 to $4,000. The law may not imply a condition precedent as to the availability of stock simply to bail out an Internet merchant from a bad bargain, a fortiori in the sale of information and probably services, as the same constraints as to availability and supply may not usually apply to such sales. What amounts to snapping up is a question of degree that will incorporate a spectrum of contextual factors: what is objectively and subjectively known, the magnitude of the transaction(s), the circumstances in which the orders are placed and whether any unusual factors are apparent. 85 Having stated the general rule, it is imperative that the rationale underlying this approach be understood. The credit card payments had not been processed. There cannot be any legitimate expectation of enforcement on the part of the non-mistaken party seeking to take advantage of appearances. He graduated from NTU as a bachelor of business studies, specialising in financial analysis. Is this a case of poetic justice? 120 The widening of jurisdiction to embrace a broad equitable jurisdiction could well encourage litigious behaviour and promote uncertainty. Rules and case law pertaining to amendments are premised upon achieving even-handedness in the context of an adversarial system by: (a) ensuring that the parties apprise each other and the court of the essential facts that they intend to rely on in addressing the issues in controversy or dispute; (b) requiring that an amendment should be attended to in the usual course of events, at an early stage of the proceedings, to ensure that no surprise or prejudice is inflicted on or caused to opposing parties; (c) requiring careful consideration whether any amendments sought at a late stage of the proceedings will cause any prejudice to the opposing party. 31 He admitted receiving a call from the first plaintiff at about 2.00am but claimed the first plaintiff merely apprised him of a good deal. The marrow of contractual relationships should be the parties intention to create a legal relationship. The issue in this case was whether the pricing was a mistake and if the contract would be fulfilled. 83 The defendant maintained that there was no element of surprise and/or prejudice arising from the amendments. Chwee Kin Keong and Others v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR 594; [2004] SGHC 71 Suit No: Suit 202/2003/E Decision Date: 12 Apr 2004 Court: High Court Coram: V K Rajah JC Counsel: Tan Sok Ling, Malcolm Tan and Mohan Das Vijayaratnam (Tan S L and Partners) for plaintiffs, Philip Fong Yeng Fatt and Doris Chia Ming Lai (Harry Elias In such cases, it would be unconscionable to enforce the bargain and equity will set aside the contract, 26 I respectfully agree with the reasoning of ShawJ in. Where common mistake is pleaded, the presence of agreement is admitted. 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. No cash had been collected. The decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in, 25 The law of mistake was discussed in depth by McLachlinCJBC in. 30 Tan Wei Teck is 30 years old. 33 See the Singapore Court of Appeal decision of Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd[2005] 1 SLR 502 (noted by Yeo, TM ' Great Peace: a distant disturbance ' (2005) 121 Law Quarterly Review 393 Google Scholar; KFK Low 'Unilateral mistake at common law and in equity' [2005] Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 423; and PW . I have found that the plaintiffs had at all material times knowledge of or, at the very least, a real belief that an error had been made by the defendant in the price posting. E-mails are processed through servers, routers and Internet service providers. The recipient rule is therefore more convenient and relevant in the context of both instantaneous or near instantaneous communications. The rigour in limiting this scope is also critical to protect innocent third party rights that may have been acquired directly or indirectly. Ltd. Yeo Tiong Min* I. The law will have to organically adapt itself to respond to new challenges without compromising on certainty and fairness. The only court judgement on the theme is Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, a judgement of the Singapore High Court. June 16, 2022; Posted by why do chavs wear tracksuits; 16 . They then argue that as equitable defences have not been pleaded, the court has no alternative but to allow the claim. They assumed that to be the position. Scorpio: 13/01/20 01:42 I want at least one for personal use 2 would be good coz my gf needs one too any more than that would be a bonus ;-), Scorpio: 13/01/20 01:43 anyway, I dont mind buying over if you have frens who want to sell buy at twice the price!! The E-Mail Acceptance Rule. He commenced practice in 2000 and currently practices with the law firm representing the plaintiffs in this action. He seemed to suggest that in a number of cases going as far back as Cundy v Lindsay (1878) 3App Cas 459, the contracts in issue therein should be treated as only being voidable in equity: see Solle v Butcher at 692, Lewis v Averay [1972] 1 QB 198 at 207 and dicta in Magee v Pennine Insurance Co Ltd [1969] 2 QB 507 at 514 where he opined that: A common mistake, even on a most fundamental matter, does not make a contract void at law: but it makes it voidable in equity. In this case, there was no consensus ad idem or meeting of the minds between the parties, which meant that there could be no binding contract between them. 84 It is axiomatic that a court will generally be cautious if not reluctant to effect any amendments once the hearing has commenced; even more so once the evidential phase of the proceedings has been completed. 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. 103 The amalgam of factors a court will have to consider in risk allocation ought to include: (a) the need to observe the principle of upholding rather than destroying contracts, (b) the need to facilitate the transacting of electronic commerce, and. Whether the parties have reached agreement on the terms is not determined by evidence of the subjective intention of each party. In Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd, one of the defendant's employees mistakenly uploaded the contents of a training template onto the defendant's website, resulting in the retail price of S$3,854 for a commercial laser printer on the website being replaced with the figure S$66. What is urged is that, owing to a common error as to some fundamental fact, the agreement is robbed of all efficacy. This final mass e-mail only reinforces my view that the first plaintiff consistently and continuously entertained the view that the price posting on the HP website was a mistake. Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies. Indeed he had conduct of significant phases of these proceedings on behalf of the plaintiffs. Nor could he satisfactorily explain why he initially made the Internet searches to ensure the offer was genuine. It has been pointed out that the pedigree of these decisions is dubious, to say the least (see [128] and [129] infra). The price for equitable justice is uncertainty. 73 The sixth plaintiffs orders did not receive matching confirmations from the defendant as his e-mail box was full. Chwee Kin Keong decision - Chwee Kin Keong and Others v Digilandmall Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR 594; - Studocu Caso chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd slr sghc 71 suit no: suit decision 12 apr 2004 date: court: coram: counsel: high court rajah jc tan sok IgnorarExperimenta 'Pergunta a um Especialista' Pergunta a um especialista 127 The attempt to conflate the concept of common law mistake and the equitable jurisdiction over mistake is understandable but highly controversial. When pressed as to whether he visited other websites, he said he could not confirm that one way or the other. Caveat emptor remains a cornerstone of the law of contract and business relationships. 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. Other Jurisdictions. In the eyes of Singapore law, purported contracts entered into in similar circumstances are void ab initio. Websites often provide a service where online purchases may be made. This constituted more than a quarter of the total number of laser printers ordered. Decisions cannot be reconciled and expressions, terminology and phraseology in different decisions mean different things to different courts and even judges within the same judicial systems. I was neither impressed nor convinced. As part of its business, it operates a website owned by Hewlett Packard (HP) at, 16 When the first plaintiff eventually succeeded in accessing the HP website, he immediately placed an order for 100 laser printers at about, 17 Having called the second and third plaintiffs at about. I have carefully considered the issue of costs and have noted that the defendant had, in the process of mounting a root and branch attack on the plaintiffs claim, pursued some unmeritorious contentions. Ltd.1 has the makings of a student's classic for several reasons: it presents a textbook . Borneo United Sawmills Sdn Bhd v. MUI Continental Insurance Bhd (Marine insurance - Loss of goods - Claim for loss of goods under Marine Cargo Policy) [2009] 8 CLJ 217. Their Court Judgement chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd slr sghc 71 suit no: suit decision 12 apr 2004 date: court: coram: counsel: high court rajah Skip to document Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions London School of Business and Finance SAA Global Education 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. Scorpio: 13/01/20 01:43 yeah man whats the original price? Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd,( [2005]SGCA 2 ) . V K Rajah JC. He is also part of the Bel-Air network. Keywords Contract Online Store Mistake Pricing Mistake Citation Altogether, the second plaintiff purchased 180 units, opting for cash on delivery as the payment mode. Has an agreement been reached or not? It can however be observed that in mass mistake cases, even when there is no direct evidence as in these proceedings, the court could be prepared to pragmatically assume actual or deemed knowledge of the manifest mistake.