37 Iowa 107 | Iowa | 1873
It is quite satisfactorily established that the two tracts of land are fifty miles apart, and that the fifty acres in Ripley have not, and never have had any improvements thereon, and that said tract is hilly, rocky, and worthless for agricultural purposes.
The weight of the evidence shows also that the defendants Nancy and John Shockey, by their declarations and representations, induced plaintiffs to believe that the lands in Ripley county were improved, and in state fit for cultivation, and that but for such belief plaintiffs would not have made the exchange.
The only real point of difficulty is as to whether the defendants knew their representations to be false. But if they did not know them to be false, they honestly believed them true, and there was a case of mutual mistake, which is as frequent and as satisfactory a ground of equitable interposition as fraud itself. And that this ground of relief is available under the issues made, see Sweezey v. Collins et al., 36 Iowa, 589.
Tbe amendment to tbe petition with the original petition constitutes but one pleading. Rev., § 2983. Tbe prayer for relief, in tbe original petition, is, therefore, applicable to tbe amendment.
We discover no substantial objection to tbe judgment of tbe court below. Affirmed.