Carroll v. Succession of Carroll

20 So. 210, 48 La. Ann. 956, 1895 La. LEXIS 573
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 4, 1895
DocketNo. 11,960
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 20 So. 210 (Carroll v. Succession of Carroll) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carroll v. Succession of Carroll, 20 So. 210, 48 La. Ann. 956, 1895 La. LEXIS 573 (La. 1895).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Nicholls, C. J.

Mrs. Anna Castleman claims that her sister, Mrs. Thomas L. Airey, should be held to collate twenty thousand dollars.

On the 3d of November, 1860, a marriage contract was entered into between Miss Virginia Carroll, daughter of D. R. Oarroll, and Thomas L. Airey. The father intervened in the act, declaring that he thereby settled upon the intended wife, as dowry, the sum of twenty thousand dollars. Thomas L. Airey in the act acknowledged to have received said amount from D. R. Oarroll in ready money then and there paid, and consented to remain charged with the same.

On the 4th of October, 1892, Airey and wife and D. R. Oarroll appeared before Samuel Flower, notary public, and two witnesses, and an act was passed in which, after reciting the marriage contract above mentioned and the acknowledgment therein of Thomas L. Airey that he had received the twenty thousand dollars settled as dowry, the parties severally declared “that by mutual consent and agreement by and between all the said parties the said sum of twenty thousand dollars had been returned and paid back by the said Thomas L. Airey to the said D. R. Oarroll, who acknowledged the receipt thereof; that accordingly the donation made by the said D. R. Oarroll to said Virginia Carroll of the said sum of twenty thousand dollars dowry is hereby forever revoked and dissolved, and the settlement of dowry made in the said marriage contract is hereby declared to be null and void, and the said donation and settlement of dowry are hereby settled.”

In answer to interrogatories on facts and articles propounded to her, Mrs. Thomas L. Airey declared “the money in question, twenty thousand dollars, was returned long before (before the date of the act passed before Samuel Flower) to my father by Mr. Thomas L. [961]*961Airey — in fact it was returned to my father by Mr. Airey on November 3, 1860, immediately after the signing of the marriage contract before Oharles Springer, notary public. My father had handed over the twenty thoasand dollars in currency notes, and after the signing of the marriage contract Mr. Airey returned the identical money to my father * * * This was done in my presence before leaving the place the signing took place.”

The opponent, Mrs. Castleman, invokes Art. 2329 of the Oivil Oode against the defence set up on behalf of Mrs. Airey. She also calls to our attention the fact that at the date of the act before Flower, the wife of D. R. Oarroll was no longer living, and contends that D. R. Carroll was powerless to revoke the settlement of dowry so far as the succession of Mrs. D. R. Oarroll was concerned. Art. 2329 of the Oivil Code is as follows:

“ Every matrimonial agreement can be altered by the husband and wife jointly before the celebration of marriage, but it can not be altered after the celebration.”

We do not think that the provisions of that article have any application to the matter now before the court. It is true that in the act before Flower the parties declare that the donation made by the father in the marriage contract was thereby “revoked;” but the question is one of the reality of the original donation rather than one as to its revocation, and whether or not twenty thousand dollars passed or was intended seriously to pass from Daniel R. Oarroll to Thomas L. Airey for or on account of his wife. Laurent, in his work Du Contrat de Mariage (Laurent Code Oivil, Vol. 21), after discussing at some length the irrevocability of marriage contract, says on p. 110, Sec. 86: “ Le contrat de mariage contient parfois des énonciations fausses; il constate un apport qui n’a pas été fait, il donne quittance d’une dot qui n’a pas été payée. Faut-il appliquer, dans oes cas, le principle de l’immutabilité des conventions matrimoniales et maintenir les déclarations qui s’y trouvent jusqu’a ce que les parties intéressées les aient détruites par l’inscription en faux ? A notre avis, l’article 1395 est hors de cause, et on a tort de l’invoquer; on ne déroge pas a une convention par la convention méme. La véritable question porte sur une difficulté de preuve. L’acte fait-il foi jusqu’a l’inscription de faux de l’apport et du payement de la dot ? La négative est certaine; elle résulte des principes qui régissent la force probante des actes authentiques. [962]*962L’acte fait foi, jusqu’a inscription de faux, du fait matérial de la déclaration, il ne prouve que jusqu’a preuve contrairela vérité de la déclaration. On peut done soutenir sans devoir s’inscrire en faux, que l’apport constaté au contrat de marrage n’a pas été fait, que le payement de la det a été fictif.

In Dalloz & Vergé “ Code Oivil Annoté,” we find the following authorities on that subject: Dalloz & Vergé, under Article 1395,C. N. No. 96: “ De ce que le contrat de mariage est irrévocable, il ne suit nullement qu’on doive réputer sinceres et vraies toutes les énonciations qu’il contient. Il peut étre argué de simulation par les tiers, et la preuve contraire recevable soit par témoins, soit par un ensemble de présomptions graves, précises et concordantes (Jurisprudence Générale Contr. de Mariage 381).

No. 98. * * * “Est contestable par les autres enfants la mention portée dans le contrat de mariage de l’un d’eux, et qui désigne le beau-pére de la future comme ayant repu la dot constitueé á celleci, quand réellement il n’a rien repu et qu’il n’a été constitué aucune dot, et la preuve peut résulter, entre autres présumptions, d’une contre-lettre non revétue des formalités exigées par les Articles 1395 et 1396 Gode Civil.”

Req. 5, Janv., 1831. Jurisprudence Générale. Contrat de Mariage, 382.

No. 99. “Une cour a pu, sans porter atteinte á l’immutabilité des conventions matrimoniales, dispenser du rapport á une succession une dot constituée par contrat de mariage si le payement de cette a été simulé.”

Req. 13 Juin, 1831. Jurisprudence Générale. Contrat de Mariage, 383.

No. 100. “Si les énonciations contenues au contrat de mariage sont contestables par simulation, la preuve de la simulation ne résulte pas nécessairement de la contre-lettre postérieure du mariage qui reconnaítrait la fausseté des énonciations.” Jurisprudence Générale. Contrat de Mariage, No. 384. Dalloz & Vergé under Art. 1122, C. N.

No. 27. * * “La déclaration du défunt qu’il n’a pas versé et qu’il était dans l’impossibilité de payer la somme par lui donnée á terme á l’un de ses enfants dans son contrat de mariage est opposable aux autres enfants, qui ne peuvent, des lors, exiger le rapport de la somme donnée lorsqu’ils n’articulent contre cette déclaration aucuns [963]*963faits partieuliers de fraude.” Req. 20 Janvier, 1864, D. P. 65 1222. Dalloz & Vergé under Art. 1438, C. N., No. 56.

“En presence de la déclaration dn défunt qu’il n’a pas payé la somme par lui donnée á terme a l’un de ses enfants par contrat de mariage, il n’y a pas lieu de demander le rapport de cette somme.”

In the case at bar there is neither question of fraud involved nor of interference with the rights of forced heirs. The heirs other than the opponent recognizes that the money was really returned to D. R. Carroll, as stated by Mrs. Airey in her testimony, and the return of the money was evidently before the celebration of the marriage of Airey to Miss Carroll. We are of the opinion that the District Court correctly held Mrs. Airey not liable for the collation of this amount.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 So. 210, 48 La. Ann. 956, 1895 La. LEXIS 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-succession-of-carroll-la-1895.