ABSTRACT
Parties agree to enter into contracts on the basis of assumptions. Any one of those assumptions may be wrong either as a matter of fact or as a matter of law. In such cases, there will be a mistake entertained by the parties. A mistake has been described as an erroneous belief or assumption. 1 It is the holding or entertaining of a belief or the making of an assumption, which is factually or legally incorrect, which gives rise to a mistake. That false belief or assumption may arise from other states of mind, such as inadvertence, forgetfulness or ignorance; but such states of mind are not themselves the mistake. 2 It is the erroneous belief or assumption made by the person in error that is the essence of a mistake.
