98 Iowa 324 | Iowa | 1896
An insuperable objection to relief on the ground of fraud, is the negligence of the plaintiffs in signing the instrument. They had the same means of knowledge as to the legal effect of the words used, as the defendant; and, if they were mistaken as to the proper legal construction thereof, it was not due, so far as we can learn from the record, to any fault of the defendant. The case, then, is one of mistake of law, pure and simple, and a court of equity cannot reform it. If we should attempt to do so, we would make a new contract for the parties, and impose upon one of them burdens to which he has never assented. While it may seem like a hardship to say that plaintiffs shall not recover for the machinery delivered defendant, yet the case is one of mistake of law, in which some person must suffer; “and the law wisely, though sometimes with great apparent hardship, leaves it for him to suffer who committed the mistake.”
These conclusions are supported by the following, among other authorities: Reed v. Root, 59 Iowa, 359 (13 N. W. Rep. 323); Moorman v. Collier, 32 Iowa, 138; Stafford v. Fetters, 55 Iowa, 484 (8 N. W. Rep. 322); Baker v. Massey, 50 Iowa, 399; Nowlin v. Pyne, 47
It follows, from what we have said, that the judgment must be reversed.