On Motivation Mistake Of Declaration Of Intention

The problem on Motivation Mistake of Declaration of Intention is one of the most controversial theory in the field of civil law. Directly related to legal effect of Declaration of Intention, it is the balancing result between two basic principles, Meaning Autonomy and Maintaining the Safety of Transactions. In accordance with the traditional theory of civil law, mistakes can be divided into two main categories, Motivation Mistake and Expression Mistake. The former refers to the motivation, which is the pre-procedure of Declaration of Intention and is usually hidden in the heart and not known to the outside world, so Motivation Mistake generally will not have access to legal concerns and remedies. However, under special conditions, Motivation Mistake can come into the adjustment range of civil law. The premise of researching Motivation Mistake is to make sure whether there are mistakes, which needs to interpretate Declaration of Intention by objective interpretation. In other words, interpretation is priority to legal adjustment. According to the academic tradition, the Roman Law concerns Motivation Mistake in the Substantive Mistake. On the basis of Declaration of Intention Stage Theory, mistakes are originally divided into Motivation Mistake and Expression Mistake, which is favorable to restrict remedies of Motivation Mistake with a more cautious attitude. However, there are some shortcomings in the conditions of remedies. Specifically, there are two kinds of Motivation Mistake in German civil law, Natural Mistake and Loss of Foundation of Transaction. Motivation Mistake is not told from other types of mistakes in the field of Anglo-American law. In spite of this, Motivation Mistake is contained in Mutual Mistake and Unilateral Mistake. In principle, only those mistakes, which are known or assumed commonly by the other party, can be remedied. Compared to above two jurisdictions, Significant Misunderstanding System in the Chinese civil law is far too simple, so we need to learn from advanced foreign fruits and legislative experience to re-construct the mistake system.