Contracts Profs Blog Infecting Serious Scholarship

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School's emeritus professor Norman Otto Stockmeyer (pictured) has recently published a charming short article about Sherwood v. Walker. The article, To Err is Human, To Moo Bovine: The Rose of Aberlone Story, can be downloaded here. Here is the abstract:

In 1887 the Michigan Supreme Court decided the case of Sherwood v. Walker, involving a contract for a cow. It is still studied by law students today as the seminal case on the law of mutual mistake. But some popular beliefs about the case turn out themselves to be mistaken. This law review commentary explores the classic "case of the barren cow," including the parties to the lawsuit, its surprising aftermath, and its continuing importance in the law of contracts

But the abstract does not really reveal the delights of Professor Stockmeyer's article, which includes the most complete collection of Sherwood v. Walker-related poetry I have ever seen, as well as no fewer that two citations to the Contracts Prof Blog. The undersigned's verse is quoted in a section devoted to the villainous forces seeking to upset the doctrinal primacy of Rose 2d of Aberlone. The tireless efforts of our guiding spirit, Frank Snyder, in researching cattle registry records relating to Rose and her offspring, are also duly recognized.

[Jeremy Telman]