othe salvage company's argument: even if the mistake did not make the contract void at common law it was voidable in equity
oHowever, CA denied the existence of any such equitable jurisdiction
'Thus the premise of equity's intrusion into the effects of the common law is that the common law rule in question is seen in the particular case to work injustice, and for some reason the common law cannot cure itself. But it is difficult to see how that can apply here. Cases of fraud and misrepresentation, and undue influence, are all catered for under other existing and uncontentious equitable rules. We are only concerned with the question whether relief might be given for common mistake in circumstances wider than those stipulated in Bell v Lever Brothers. But that, surely, is a question as to where the common law should draw the line; not whether, given the common law rule, it needs to be mitigated by application of some other doctrine. The common law has drawn the line in Bell v Lever Brothers. The effect of Solle v Butcher is not to supplement or mitigate the common law; it is to say that Bell v Lever Brothers was wrongly decided.'
Lack of solid jurisprudential basis for the recognition of a category of equitable mistake