The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-05-02
The Law OF Mistakes.

The source Of almost every lawsuit is TO be
found in mistakes of the law. Experience
has proved that the ablest men sometimes
make blunders, and the law has decided that
real mistake in fact in an important part OF
a contract will excuse the party mistaken
from performing his part of the agreement.
For instance, man made contract with
one ice company and refused to deal with
another When the bill was presented he
found that the latter company had furnished
his ice. He refused to pay the bill and it was
decided that the mistake freed him from liza
bility.
A horse was sold by trader and paid for
on the spot. While the trade was going on
the horse died. The buyer brought suit for
money paid, and it was decided it should be
paid back, since both parties had made mis-
take of fact in supposing the horse to be
alive when the trade was ended.
fla farmer intending to sell hay, sell oats
by mistake instead, he may refuse to deliver
the oats on that ground. 1t sometimes hap.
pens that a bill is paid with counterfeit bank
notes. In such case the payment is void
and The receipt is worthless.
mistake in the quantity of the thing
bargained for is no ground for breaking an
agreement. II man buys cheap thing,
with the idea that it will serve his purpose as
I,
because he was mistaken, send it back and
recover the money paid.
A mistake of law is no ground for refusing
to carry out contract. This rule is founded
on the old maxim: Ignorance of the
law does not excuse" And every man is
supposed to know the law of the land he
lives in.
Suppose debtor gives his note promising
to pay a sum of money with lawful interest,
thinking that the legal rate is six per cent.
If ten per cent is the legal rate his ignorance
of the fact will not excuse him from paying
the ten per cent.
When wellknown legal words are used in
q contract, with mistaken idea of their
meaning they are binding, in their legal
sense, upon the person using them.
If land is decided to a man and to his heirs,
he receives the estate absolutely, although
both parties intended that he should only
have the estate during his own life.
Some mistakes of law put an end to agree
ments on the ground that they are rather
mistakes of fact than of law. An executor
of will pays money TO person whom he
thinks is an heir. If the supposed heir be an
impostor, the money can be recovered. If,
under a complicated will, person buys
rights which are his already, he may get back
what he paid for them.
Mistakes of law in civil cases only cost
money, but mistakes of the criminal law
have more serious effects, in the loss of re-
spectability and reputation. Here the plea
of ignorance ofthe law will not be accepted.
A criminal must suffer the penalty of his
deed, though he thought it lawful when he
committed it.
Formerly an outlaw might be slain by any
body; but if a person should now kill an out
law, with the idea that he had right to do
so, it would be punishable as murder.
An old law book gives curious instance
of the plea of ignorance Sir John Johnson,
Scotchman, was tried for stealing and
marrying one Mary Wharton, an heiress, TO
the great displeasure of Almighty God, to
the great disparagement of the said Mary,
and to the utter sorrow of her friends"
When he was found guilty and sentenced he
asked, with surprise, if it was hanging mat
ter. He was told that it was, and he was
sentenced and executed on gibbet before
his lady's door in Great Queen street"