Bradish v. Gibbs

3 Johns. Ch. 523, 1818 N.Y. LEXIS 210, 1818 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 48
CourtNew York Court of Chancery
DecidedNovember 9, 1818
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 3 Johns. Ch. 523 (Bradish v. Gibbs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradish v. Gibbs, 3 Johns. Ch. 523, 1818 N.Y. LEXIS 210, 1818 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 48 (N.Y. 1818).

Opinion

The Chancellor.

The question in this case is, whether the plaintiff by reason of the ante- nuptial agreement, and the subsequent will, is entitled to the aid of this court, to [536]*536compel the defendants who are the heirs at law of the wife, and upon whom the legal title to the premises descended, f-Q conTey the same to him.

A feme co-cute byJa will her fTusband! tocher’’ while real estat? her

I shall confine myself to the consideration of this important point, and as my conclusion will be in favour of the plaintiff, the discussion of the subordinate points will become unnecessary.

This is a dry question resting entirely on the technical rules of equitable jurisprudence; and I shall be obliged to examine minutely the authorities which are applicable to the subject, and shall endeavour to extract from them the true principle which ought to govern the case.

It is settled that a feme covert may execute by will, in ' favour of her husband, a power given to her while sole 0Ver her real estate-

In Rich v. Beaumont, (3 Bro. P. C. 308.) a treaty of mai'™ge was concluded between the appellant and his intended wife, She then conveyed an estate of which she was seised,' in trust, and with the declared intent to suffer a recovery, and that the recovery was to enure to the uses and upon the trusts declared; which were, among others that the wife should receive the rents and profits for her sole and separate use, for life, exclusive of her husband; and if she should leave issue then upon trust, that the trustees should convey to such issue, according to her direction by deed or will, and in default of issue, and in case she survived her mother, then to such uses and persons as she by deed or will should appoint. The recovery was suffered, and the marriage shortly after tool? place : the wife, during coverture, had a son, and survived her mother, and made her will in which among other dispositions, she gave to her only son the estate, with a reservation in favour of her husband of one half of the profits for life; she added, that if her. son should die during ■his minority, without lawful issue, that she then devised all her estate to her husband, the appellant, in fee, and she [537]*537directed her trustees to convey her trust estate to such uses and purposes as were named in her will. She also gave all her personal estate to her husband, and made him the sole executor, and died.

Her son died in infancy, without issue, and the appellant apprehending that he was, by the will, entitled in equity to the fee of the estate, and to have a conveyance of the legal estate from the trustees, filed his bill, in 1724, agaitist the heirs of his wife, and against the trustees, praying for a conveyance of the legal estate.

Lord Chancellor King dismissed the bill on the ground that the appellant’s remedy, if any, was at law.

On appeal from this decree, it was a point assumed, that if the will was a good execution of the power, it was well executed in favour of the husband. The objection was, that the power was not well executed by will, because a feme covert’s will of land was, by law, void. The decree was reversed, and an order made that the Court of Chancery take the opinion of the K. B., whether the will was a good appointment- of the estate. It appears that the Court of Chancery ordered a case to be settled for the opinion of the K. B., and we have no further report of the case. But in Hearle v. Greenbank, (1 Vesey, 305.) and in Peacock v. Monk, (2 Vesey, 190.) Lord Hardwicke cited the case, to prove that a feme covert, might execute a power; and it was stated by the counsel arguendo, in Marlborough v. Godolphin, (2 Vesey, 64.) that in 'the K. B., where the case was sent, it was held a good appointment.

Though this case was by a very unusual step, referred' to a coui’t of law, yet we must' understand the decision to have been, that the will was a good execution of the power in equity. The case was depending before an--equity tribunal, to be decided upon equity principlesandLord Hardwicke, in referring to that case, says, that the point had been so determined “ in this court.” At. law. [538]*538such a will is void and in the very case of Peacock v. Monk, we find a decision of Ch. J. Wittes cited, in which it was qeld, after a consultation with the other judges, that the husband could not give power to his wife to make a will of land. This determination meant, and it could only mean, that the devise of a feme covert, though made in pursuance of a power, was, equally with a will made without such power, void in a court of law.

This early dase may, therefore, I apprehend, be relied on as a decisive authority in favour of the equitable title of the husband under his wife’s will, executed in pursuance of a power created previous to her marriage, and that such a title may be enforced in equity against the heirs at law of the wife. The idea, that the husband is, in such a case, to be deemed a volunteer, seems to be without foundation; and though it was mentioned by the counsel for the respondents, the decision of, the court of appeals shows that the objection did not apply.

But iii that ease the estate of the wife had been conveyed previous to her marriage to trustees, in trust for such persons as she should, by deed or will, appoint. The case is not, therefore, in all respects applicable to the one before me; and the doctrine in Peacock v. Monk, is supposed to be fatal to the present claim.

The principal question in Peacock v. Monk, (2 Vesey, 190.) was, as to the validity of the wife’s will of land, purchased by her during the coverture; and the observations of Lord Hardwicke, on which great reliance is placed, were mere dicta, not necessarily arising out of that case, and so they were considered, afterwards, in the case which I shall presently mention, before Lord Northington. Lord Hardwicke, admitted, that “a woman, on her marriage, may take such a method as to prevent her real estate from going to her heir, but he doubted whether it could be done but either by way of trust, or of power over a use. Suppose, he says, a woman having a real estate be[539]*539fore marriage, and either before or after marriage, by a proper conveyance, (if after marriage it must be by fine,) conveys to trustees, in trust for herself during coverture, to her separate use, and then in trust for such person as she by deed or will should appoint, and in default of appointment, to her heirs; she marries, and makes such an appointment. It is a good declaration of the trust, and this court will support that trust. Soitmaybe done by her, by way of power over a use, as if she conveyed the estate to the use of herself for life, remainder to the use of such person as she by writing, &c. should appoint, and in default of such appointment, to her own use. This is a power reserved to her, and a feme covert can execute a power. But can a feme covert

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Bluebook (online)
3 Johns. Ch. 523, 1818 N.Y. LEXIS 210, 1818 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradish-v-gibbs-nychanct-1818.