1928 (2) TMI 8

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.... whether the payment was voluntary. On that ground we refused to consider the two decisions in Slater v. Mayor, etc. of Burnley (1888) 59 L.T. 636 and William Whiteley, Ltd. v. The King (1909) 101 L.T. 741 In those cases the ground of the decision was that the payments were voluntary and we therefore held there was no need to consider those decisions at length; but, towards the end of the judgment, there is an observation that even if it is necessary to consider them, we do not prefer to follow them. This observation is, of course, obiter. But in the present case the point has to be considered and we have had the advantage of the argument of the Advocate-General on this point and on the application of Cooper v. Phibbs (1867) L.R. 2 H.L. 149....

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.... right, it may be said that such a mistake is not a pure mistake of law and is covered by the language of Lord West-bury in Cooper v. Phibbs (1867) L.R. 2 H.L. 149 at 170 which was quoted by Stirling, J., in Allcard v. Walker (1896) L.R. 2 Ch. 369 Some such limitation must be placed on the words of Lord Westbury which on their face seem to be too wide and which if literally applied will cover cases of all mistakes of law, for every mistake of law committed by a party and made the basis or ground of relief must ultimately lead to some mistake as to his right; and in that sense, all mistakes of law are mistakes affecting private rights; but in this sense, there will never be a case to illustrate the proposition that a mistake of law cannot be....

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....al mistake relating to the nature of the private right of a party with reference to special facts peculiar to him mixed up with a question of law. In this case it is therefore clear that the mistake of the petitioner is a pure mistake of law and cannot be said to be a mistake bearing upon the private or the special right of the petitioner and therefore it cannot become a ground of relief within the meaning of Section 72 of the Contract Act or Article 96 of the Limitation Act. In Allcard v. Walker (1896) L.R. 2 Ch. 369 Stirling, J., went on to observe at page 831: It is not accurate to say that relief can never be given in respect of a mistake of law. 2. He then referred to the statement of Turner, L.J., in Stone v. Godfrey (1854) 5 De G. ....

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.... L.T. 741 it is impossible to distinguish the case in Slater v. Mayor, etc. of Burnley (1888) 59 L.T. 636. Anyhow it is clear that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover. To this extent, we depart from the view taken in C.R.P. No. 1259 of 1925. 6. In the course of the argument our attention has been invited by the learned Advocate-General to a circular letter issued by the Government of India (Ex. D) which shows that they did not mean to exempt cotton seeds under the Act of 1921 and that if any Local Government or administration considers it necessary for special reasons to extend the concession to any other varieties of fodder such as oil cake or cotton seed, the previous sanction of the Government of India should be obtained. For the r....