Contract law

rich0606

Johnny is an old man. He has two children, Joe and Victoria. Johnny has informed everyone that when he dies, the property is to be shared equally among Joe and Victoria. He stays with Victoria and is totally dependent on her to look after him. Johnny loves Victoria and does whatever she tells him to do.

Two months ago, Johnny transferred all his property to Victoria. He passed away a few days ago. Joe claims that the contract is voidable. Discuss.

不知道哪位大大，能帮忙解决这个问题？除了undue influence ，还有什么section或者哪一个area能支持Mr,Johnny和Victoria form的contract是viodable?

jiayierwai

从你的问题看来，可以导致voidable的只有coercion, undue influence, mistake, fraud或者是misrepresentation.我们先一个个分析。

Undue influence:
有两种undue influence， 一种是actual和另一种是presumed undue influence （Class 2B）。而你的问题，是属于后者；也就是说要证明Johnny和Victoria之间有de facto existence of relationship. 换句话说，必须要证明Johnny reposed trust and confident于victoria。在这样的情况下，法庭就会假定他们直接的关系存在着undue influence。你可以参考 Rosli Darus v Mansor Haji Saad [2001] 4 MLJ 206.

为了巩固你的argument，你可以cite s. 16 (2)(b)： “a person will deems to be in a position to dominate the will of a personwhose mental capacity is temporary or permanently affected by the reason ofage, illness, mental or bodily distress.”

Coercion:
这个并不能用，因为要用这个去argue，必须要证明Victoria 'is threatening an act which is forbidden by the Penal Code'。必须要清楚说明是在Penal Code哪一项条文。而你的情况，比没有清楚说明，只是说Johnny把所有东西给他，然后几天后就去世了。并没有说明任何的刑事成份存在。所以这个is not applicable.

Mistake:
mistake 有分common mistake, mutual mistake, unilateral mistake or mistake as to the identity / attribute of the person. For common mistake, mutual mistake 和 mistake as to the identity / attribute of the person是明显不能用。因为问题根本没有说到Victoria有mistake (common & mutual mistake)。至于能用的，是unilateral mistake，你可以说Johnny transferred the properties to Victoria was due to his mind was affected by his illness. 可是，transfer of property is a matter of fact which is essential to the agreement,这会导致 void but not voidable.

Fraud:
这个也不适合。因为fraud有分3种: (1) under s.17(a)的 suggestion of untrue fact，你的问题没有提到这点。(2) under s. 17(b)的active concealment of fact，这个更不relevant. 至于最后一个under s.17 (c)的no intention to perform the promise 也不relevant。

Misrepresentation：
要引用这个，必须要有representation from Victoria from Johnny,而你的question is silent on this matter,所以我觉得也是不适合。也没有必要浪费时间探讨。

总结，只有undue influence最为恰当。unilateral mistaken虽然勉强可以，但很牵强……

你也可以argue说johnny by transferring the properties to victoria is due to his illness. His mind or consent is thus, not freely given due to his illness. This can evident when he passed away few days after he had transferred the properties to her.

除了用undue influence 去argue，你也可以用s. 10 of the Contracts Act 1950, which provides that all agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of the parties competent to contract....而s. 11 reads every person is competent to contract who is of the age of majority....and who is of sound mind. Sound mind的意思可以看s. 12 where a person is said to be of sound mind if at the time when he makes the contract, he is capable of understanding it (生病，思绪不清楚，不能清楚了解自己进入的合约是什么) and of forming a rationale judgment as to its effect upon his interest.

可是记得，如果你用consent去argue，那contract是void ab initio,不是viodable。

nillwong

有Contract的问题存在meh？在哪里？

rich0606

jiayierwai 发表于 20-10-2012 02:05 PM
从你的问题看来，可以导致voidable的只有coercion, undue influence, mistake, fraud或者是misrepresentati ...

谢谢你 哈哈，基本上我就懂undue influence 而已，这个题目其实是我的coursework (20分)，我想如果只是写undue influence 应该拿不到20分吧^^所以上来求助了。。。我朋友说privatiy of contract 也可以用，不知道你觉得这个point 可以加下去写吗？

fiera39

uk llb? privity也可以因为joe不是party of contract, 所以要你要参考privity的exception。