Raffles v Wichelhaus [1864] EWHC Exch J19, often called "The Peerless" case, is a leading case on mutual mistake in English contract law. Parties to an agreement for the sale of cotton coming aboard a ship named Peerless later realized that they intended different vessels. Despite the rule that courts will pursue a reasonable interpretation of ambiguous contractual terms based on their context, this agreement was held to lack the meeting of the minds necessary for formation of an enforceable contract.
Background
Plaintiff Raffles entered into a contract to sell 125 bales of Surat cotton at fair market price to the defendant, Wichelhaus, at the rate of d. per pound. The contract specified that the cotton would be arriving in Liverpool on the ship Peerless from Bombay ("to arrive ex Peerless from Bombay").
Legacy
Raffles is typically used in countries following English common law to explain the doctrine of mutual mistake. This prominence has been criticized since Wichelhaus never claimed that the time of delivery was a material aspect of the contract. Since they would have therefore accepted their allegedly intended ship arriving at the same time as the other Peerless, it appears that the defendant was only repudiating because cotton prices had sharply dropped by the time the later ship arrived in Liverpool.