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    The Docrtine or Plea of Non Est Factum

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    Ruhuro tetere
    The doctrine of non est factum allows a party to avoid the legal consequences of signing a document if it is fundamentally different than what was intended. Originally, the defense was only available to blind or illiterate people who relied on others' representations of a document. It can void a contract if the signer signed by mistake due to disability requiring reliance on others for advice. The 1854 case Thoroughhood's Case exemplified this, where an illiterate man was misled into signing a deed transferring his property rather than canceling a debt. The court voided the transfer under non est factum. For a successful plea, the signer must have a disability requiring reliance on others, have signed under a fundamental mistake about the

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    The Docrtine or Plea of Non Est Factum

    Uploaded by

    Ruhuro tetere
    180 views1 page
    The doctrine of non est factum allows a party to avoid the legal consequences of signing a document if it is fundamentally different than what was intended. Originally, the defense was only available to blind or illiterate people who relied on others' representations of a document. It can void a contract if the signer signed by mistake due to disability requiring reliance on others for advice. The 1854 case Thoroughhood's Case exemplified this, where an illiterate man was misled into signing a deed transferring his property rather than canceling a debt. The court voided the transfer under non est factum. For a successful plea, the signer must have a disability requiring reliance on others, have signed under a fundamental mistake about the

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    The doctrine of non est factum allows a party to avoid the legal consequences of signing a document if it is fundamentally different than what was intended. Originally, the defense was only available to blind or illiterate people who relied on others' representations of a document. It can void a contract if the signer signed by mistake due to disability requiring reliance on others for advice. The 1854 case Thoroughhood's Case exemplified this, where an illiterate man was misled into signing a deed transferring his property rather than canceling a debt. The court voided the transfer under non est factum. For a successful plea, the signer must have a disability requiring reliance on others, have signed under a fundamental mistake about the

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    180 views1 page

    The Docrtine or Plea of Non Est Factum

    Uploaded by

    Ruhuro tetere
    The doctrine of non est factum allows a party to avoid the legal consequences of signing a document if it is fundamentally different than what was intended. Originally, the defense was only available to blind or illiterate people who relied on others' representations of a document. It can void a contract if the signer signed by mistake due to disability requiring reliance on others for advice. The 1854 case Thoroughhood's Case exemplified this, where an illiterate man was misled into signing a deed transferring his property rather than canceling a debt. The court voided the transfer under non est factum. For a successful plea, the signer must have a disability requiring reliance on others, have signed under a fundamental mistake about the

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    THE DOCRTINE OR PLEA OF NON EST FACTUM ;

    The doctrine of non est factum ( latin for “not my deed “) Is a common law doctrine that can allow
    the signer of a legal document to escape the usual legal consequences of the signature . In its early
    days , non est factum was available only to blind and illiterate person who without being careless , relied
    another party’s flamed explanation of the document . Non est factum can void contract.

    Non est factum is a Defence in a contract law that allows a signing party to escape performance of an
    agreement which is fundamentally different from what he or she is intended to execute or sign. A claim
    of non est factum means that the signature on the contract was signed by the mistake .

    Non est factum . Can be described as a doctrine in the sense that it is part of the law or as a plea in the
    sense of an attempt by a particular signer to invoke the doctrine .

    The doctrine of non est factum was exemplified in THOROUGHHOOD’S CASE (1854) . In this case Mr
    Thoroughhood’s tenant , Mr William Chicken , owed areas of rent . Mr Thoroughhood intended to free
    him from liability and document was created to that effect . The document that was created however
    was one that transfered the property to Mr William . Mr Thoroughood was an illiterate and he has
    asked Mr Chicken what the document entailed Mr Chicken misrepresented to him that the document
    was an document to cancel arrears of rent Thus , Mr Thoroughood signed it . Subsequently, Mr Chicken
    sold the property to an innocent third party.

    The court held that the principle of non est factum would apply hear since considering the fact that
    Mr Thoroughood was an illiterate and he made enquiries as to what purpose the document was for .
    Thus the deed of transfer to Mr Chicken was void .

    According to Saunders v Anglia Building Society [ 1971] applied in Petelin v Callen [1975] the strict
    requirements necessary plea are generally that

    (a) The person pleading non est factum must belong to class of persons who brought no fault
    of their own are unable to have any understanding of the purpose of the particular
    document because of blindness, illiteracy or some other disability . The disability must be
    one requiring the reliance on others for advice as to what they are signing .
    (b) The signatory must have made a fundamental mistake as to the nature of the contents of
    the document being signed including its practical effect
    (c) The document must have been radically different from one intended to be signed .

    THE APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF NON EST FACTUM IN TANZANIA

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