The copy of a contract signed by a vendor was altered after his signature by his solicitor to correspond to the copy signed by the purchaser, but before it became binding.
Held: The vendor’s subsequent ratification of the altered document related back, so that the position was as if the alterations had been in the document when he signed it. Lord Sterndale MR said: ‘the defendant wishes to get out of a contract which he undoubtedly made and approved, because he could make more money by repudiating it than by fulfilling it.’ Effective ratification is ‘equivalent to an antecedent authority’, and will have retrospective effect.
Younger LJ said: ‘the defendant must be taken to have ratified and acknowledged his signature to the memorandum in its then state’.
Judges:
Lord Sterndale MR, Younger LJ
Citations:
[1923] 2 Ch 314
Contract
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.401640