Contract Annulment for Fundamental Error Regarding Essential Quality of Subject Matter

A party, having signed a contract for the purchase of goods, sought annulment of the agreement alleging a fundamental error concerning the very substance of the object of the sale, specifically arguing that the object delivered was fundamentally different from what was agreed upon. The court of appeal upheld the sale, finding that the alleged error did not meet the strict criteria for nullity because the delivered item still fell within the general category of what was contracted for, despite factual discrepancies. The high court quashed this decision, reasoning that an error is considered fundamental, justifying contract annulment, when it concerns the essential quality of the subject matter that motivated the buyer to contract, even if the object delivered belongs to the same general class, because the specific quality attributed to the object was the decisive factor in the consent given.