Saunders v Anglia Building Society [1970]

Court: House of Lords

Facts: Mrs. Gallie (the claimant), a widow, wished to make a gift of her house to her nephew, Mr. Lee. She signed a document presented by Lee’s business partner, believing it was a deed transferring the house to her nephew. In fact, the document allowed the business partner to mortgage the property to Anglia Building Society (the defendant). Mrs. Gallie signed without fully reading the document, as she had broken her spectacles and was misled about its contents. When the business partner defaulted on the mortgage, Anglia Building Society sought to repossess the house. Mrs. Gallie claimed the document was void on the grounds of non est factum ("it is not my deed").

Issue: Could Mrs. Gallie claim non est factum to avoid the consequences of signing a document she had not fully understood?

Held: The House of Lords ruled that the plea of non est factum was unavailable to Mrs. Gallie. The sale of the house and the mortgage agreement were not void, as there was no "radical difference" between what she thought she was signing and what she actually signed.

Key Judicial Statements:

• Lord Reid: Clarified that the defence of non est factum is limited to cases where there is a significant, fundamental difference between the signed document and what the person thought they were signing. In this case, Mrs. Gallie was mistaken about the recipient of the deed (Lee vs. his business partner), but the nature of the document—conveying ownership of the property—remained the same.

• Lord Denning (Court of Appeal): Earlier ruled that literate individuals must take responsibility for understanding what they sign, and cannot rely on the plea of non est factum simply because they were misled.

💡 Leveluplaw: the non est factum defence is difficult to claim. If you sign a document without understanding its contents, courts generally expect you to have exercised reasonable care in informing yourself before signing, even if you were misled.