Section 41 Mistake as to Law

• Library: Remedies 2006

A mutual mistake of law can operate as a ground for reformation of a contract. In Wilhite v. Wilhite, 224 S.W. 448, 449 (Mo. 1920), the Supreme Court of Missouri stated that “where an instrument is drawn in language the legal effect of which the parties misunderstand, and which expresses what the parties did not intend to express, a court of equity will reform the contract so as to conform to the intention of the parties.” See also State ex rel. State Highway Comm’n v. Schwabe, 335 S.W.2d 15, 21 (Mo. 1960); Davidson v. Eubanks, 189...