Warning
Info
- - tl;dr
- - ICRA
- - Facts & Holding
- - DeepDive
0 0
Michigan Supreme Court - 66 Mich. 568
Tags: Mistake
Video Summary
Case Summary
In the 1887 case, Sherwood v. Walker, farmer Theodore Sherwood sued cattle importers and breeders, Hiram Walker and associates, over an oral agreement to purchase a cow named Rose 2d of Aberlone for $80. The purchase was based on the assumption that Rose was infertile and unable to breed. When Walker discovered that the cow was actually pregnant, they refused to deliver her to Sherwood, arguing that no contract existed because both parties were mistaken about the cow's nature.
Sherwood took legal action for possession of the cow at the agreed price. The trial court ruled in his favor and issued a writ of replevin for the cow. However, the Supreme Court reversed this decision, arguing that there was no contract due to a mutual mistake concerning the cow's fertility. The court applied the mutual mistake test, determining whether the mistake concerned the core of the agreement. Finding that both parties believed they were negotiating for an infertile cow, the court reasoned that had they known the truth, the contract would never have existed, and therefore it was void.
This case highlights the legal principle of mutual mistake, which allows a contract to be avoided if both parties are mistaken about a crucial fact affecting their agreement. This principle is distinct from unilateral mistake - where only one party is mistaken - and fraud or misrepresentation, which involves false statements made to induce a contract. Mutual mistake acknowledges that contracts rely on mutual consent and that without true agreement between the parties, no contract exists.
DeepDiveHighlight a legal term to see the definition
The plaintiff, who was a banker, agreed to buy a cow from the defendants at a particular price. The defendants confirmed the sale in writing but did not allow the deliveryman to deliver the cow. The plaintiff obtained the cow through a writ of replevin and filed a lawsuit. The court ruled that the intent of the parties controlled the sale and passing of title. The weighing of the cow did not require the presence or action of the defendants or their agents. The sale of the cow was considered valid, even though it was assumed that the cow was barren. However, a contract can be refused or cancelled by either party if it was based on an important error or misunderstanding. The court upheld the lower court's verdict and judgment.
The case involves a dispute over a contract of sale for a cow between a banker and a dealer in high-grade livestock. The plaintiff believed the cow to be of a specific breed and unable to breed, but it gave birth to a calf. The court found that there was no mutual mistake of fact in the lack of a warranty, and the circuit judge's interpretation of the contract was correct. Therefore, there is no legal basis for the defendants to cancel the contract. Justice Sherwood dissented from the majority's decision and believed that the plaintiff was entitled to the property unless there was a mistake that would invalidate the contract, which he did not find.
LSD+ Case Briefs
Features
- DeepDive for detailed case analysis
- Over 50,000 existing case briefs
- Instant briefs for another 6,000,000 cases
- Highlight dictionary for legal term definitions
- Social learning with chat and high points
Over 50,000 Cases Briefed
LSD+ gives you access to over 50,000 case briefs, more than anyone else. Be the first to email us the website of a case brief product that offers you more case briefs and we'll give you a free year of LSD+.
14-Day Free Trial
Unlimited access. Read as much content as you want during your trial with no device limitations. Cancel any time during your trial and keep access for the full 14 days.
Integrated Legal Dictionary
Lawyers and judges love to use big words. And Latin, for some reason.
Highlight a legal term in LSD Briefs and get an instant, plain English definition. Try highlighting contract or specific performance. No need to search or read through a list of definitions, simply highlight the words you don’t know and our LSDefine integration will instantly give you a definition to any of over 30,000 legal terms.
DeepDive
DeepDive allows you to explore legal cases like never before. DeepDive offers multiple levels of case summaries, which empowers you to quickly and easily find the information you need to stay on top of readings. Easily navigate through summary levels and click on any text to get more detail, all the way down to the original legal case text.
Brief anything. Instantly.
Our proprietary state-of-the-art system can instantly brief over 6,000,000 US cases. That means we can probably brief that case that your professor assigned last night when she sent you a poorly scanned pdf and told you to read every third paragraph. Or maybe she uploaded it to Canvas and didn’t really tell you to read it, but you know you probably should. Tenure does wild things to good people.
Social Learning with Chat and High Points
Study groups are a great way to learn and explore a case. LSD has chat rooms for each case to let you ask questions across the community and hear what other students struggled with and how they put it all together. Learn the key points of every case from other LSD+ users and share your knowledge with LSD High Points.
Real-Time Brief Feedback
Don’t settle for mistakes in briefs that have been there for 10 years and never fixed. Find an issue or something missing from a brief? Down vote and we will make improvements. All of our case brief editors graduated from from T14 law schools.