Topic 5 (Rectification): Definitions and Quotes

Question 1

Sylvan Lake Gold and Tennis Club Ltd v Performance Industries Ltd [2002] 1 SCR 678

Answer 1

Canadian case defining rectification

“Rectification is an equitable remedy whose purpose is to prevent a written document from being used as an engine of fraud or misconduct “equivalent to fraud”…Rectification is predicated on the existence of a prior oral contract whose terms are definite and ascertainable…What is essential is that at the time of execution of the written document the defendant knew or ought to have known of the error and the plaintiff did not. Moreover, the attempt of the defendant to rely on the erroneous written document must amount to “fraud or the equivalent of fraud”. The court’s task in a rectification case is corrective, not speculative. It is to restore the parties to their original bargain, not to rectify a belatedly recognized error of judgment by one party or the other.”