187 Iowa 1245 | Iowa | 1919
I. Appellees invoke the general rule that
These limitations of the general rule present the not uncommon difficulty of the clear rule which is sometimes difficult of application. We think the fair interpretation of this limitation is that the discretion is purely a judicial one, and, therefore, there is no authority to deny performance merely because the chancellor thinks the contract is disadvantageous, or, in a loose, general sense, inequitable; but that the remedy may rightly be refused even though the fraud, unfairness, or inequity, is not strong enough to set the contract aside on these grounds. Somewhere between these two postulates the limit must lie. If the case of fraud itself is strong enough to warrant dismissal of the bill, there can be no occasion for calling in the discretion. If, on the other hand,, it cannot, in any true sense, be said that there is fraud or an unconscionable overreaching, then certainly the dismissal o'f the complaint would not be the exercise of sound judicial discretion, but an arbitrary decía
Another difficulty, peculiar to the case before us,, perhaps, is that the dismissal was on the merits. A dismissal because, in the discretion of the court, the particular remedy of specific performance is not available, is necessarily no more than an abatement; it relegates the parties to their' remedies at law, and, therefore, where the judgment is strictly based on the exercise of the discretion, it is necessarily not an adjudication as to anything that will be tried out between the parties on the law side. In equity, where no more is said, the dismissal of the petition is a dismissal on the merits. In an equity suit, as’ in every other, there is a presumption that all decisions are on the merits. Notwithstanding this rule and this presumption, the record, as a whole, satisfies us that nothing but a denial of this particular remedy was intended by the coui*t. The effect of this holding will be adverted to later. For present purposes, we say no more than that it is for us to investigate, and determine whether said discretion has been abused.
II. The parties to this suit traded lands. There was an agreement that, upon certain conditions performed, the plaintiff should be given a deed by the defendant. The defendant refused to make deed; thereupon, this suit was brought to compel him to perform specifically. As said, the trial court refused to decree specific performance. > Stripped to its skeleton, the dispute narrows down to the one question, whether the plaintiff had so performed his agreement to turn over to the defendant notes for $7,000, secured by mortgage, as to move the chancellor to grant him specific performance. The evidence shows that both parties believed this mortgage to be good security for the $7,000, and that it has transpired that it is not, and never was, security for anything, because prior mortgages would exhaust the land. The defendant, appellee, contends that the agent em
We therefore conclude that the trial .court rightly exercised its discretion in dismissing the petition. But it is ordered that its judgment shall be no bar to the prosecution of suit at law on part of the plaintiff. — Modified and affirmed.