These powers are in addition to and not in substitution for existing powers to grant relief in respect of matters other than mistakes and are not to be exercised in such a way as to prejudice the general security of contractual relationships.

(1)

A court may in the course of any proceedings or on application made for the purpose grant relief under section 7 to any party to a contract—(a)if in entering into that contract—(i)that party was influenced in his decision to enter into the contract by a mistake that was material to him, and the existence of the mistake was known to the other party or 1 or more of the other parties to the contract (not being a party or parties having substantially the same interest under the contract as the party seeking relief); or(ii)all the parties to the contract were influenced in their respective decisions to enter into the contract by the same mistake; or(iii)that party and at least 1 other party (not being a party having substantially the same interest under the contract as the party seeking relief) were each influenced in their respective decisions to enter into the contract by a different mistake about the same matter of fact or of law; and(b)the mistake or mistakes, as the case may be, resulted at the time of the contract—(i)in a substantially unequal exchange of values; or(ii)in the conferment of a benefit, or in the imposition or inclusion of an obligation, which was, in all the circumstances, a benefit or obligation substantially disproportionate to the consideration therefor; and(c)where the contract expressly or by implication makes provision for the risk of mistakes, the party seeking relief or the party through or under whom relief is sought, as the case may require, is not obliged by a term of the contract to assume the risk that his belief about the matter in question might be mistaken.

(2)

For the purposes of an application for relief under section 7 in respect of any contract,—(a)a mistake, in relation to that contract, does not include a mistake in its interpretation:(b)the decision of a party to that contract to enter into it is not made under the influence of a mistake if, before he enters into it and at a time when he can elect not to enter into it, he becomes aware of the mistake but elects to enter into the contract notwithstanding the mistake.