Davis v. Calvert

5 G. & J. 269
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 15, 1833
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 5 G. & J. 269 (Davis v. Calvert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Calvert, 5 G. & J. 269 (Md. 1833).

Opinion

Buchanan, Ch. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This case comes up on appeal from the Montgomery County Court, on exceptions taken at the trial of issues sent to that court from the Orphans Court of the same county, upon a caveat against the admission to probat of certain instruments of writing, purporting to bo the will of Thomas CrampMn, and the several codicils thereto.

There are three bills of exception, the two first to the rejection by the court of evidence offered on the part of the appellant to impeach those instruments, and the third to a series of instructions given by the court to the jury after the testimony was closed.

There is no question before us relating to the construction of the will. Nor is it a question before this court, whether the evidence offered, if true, would be sufficient to sustain the issues on the part of the appellant. That is not a subject for consideration on this appeal.

All that we are called upon to do, and can legitimately do, is to decide upon the competency of that evidence, and [298]*298the correctness of the instructions given to the jury, to do which it is necessary to see what the issues are.

They are eight in number.

The first, whether Thomas Cramphin, at the several times of signing the respective instruments of writing, was of a sound and disposing mind.

2. Whether, at the several times of signing them, he was urged thereto by such importunities of the appellees, or either of them, as he was too weak to resist, and under circumstances which left him not free to act in the disposition of his estate ?

3. Whether his several signatures thereto were his own free and voluntary acts, with a knowledge of the contents of the several instruments, and without the exercise of an undue influence by the appellees, which in his then situation, and then imbecility of mind, prevented him from making a disposition of his property according to his own free will?

4. Whether the execution of the instruments was procured by fraud, and misrepresentation of the appellees, or any of them, or by others acting with the privity, and by the directions of them, or any of them ?

5. Whether in the situation in which he was placed, and under the circumstances connected with the execution of the instruments, at the several times when they were executed by him, he was capable of knowing their contents, the manner in which they disposed of his estate, and of withholding his assent thereto ?

6. Whether they are void by reason of undue influence, fraudulent devices, impositions, misrepresentations and deceits, practiced upon him by Caroline Calvert, or by her procurement, to induce him to execute them ?

7. Whether they are void by reason of undue influence, fraudulent devices, and misrepresentations practiced upon him by the appellees, or any of them, to induce him to execute them ?

8. Whether at any time subsequent to their execution,, he was desirous of altering them, and whether he was prevented by the management, fraud, undue influence, or [299]*299importunities of Caroline Calvert, and George Calvert, or either of them, or others by their procurement ?

The first relates to mental incapacity. The second to undue importunities by the appellees, or one of them. The third to undue influence by the appellees. The fifth to the capability of Cramphin to know the contents of the instruments, and to withhold his assent, under the circumstances connected with the execution of them. The fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, relate to undue and fraudulent practices. They are substantially the same as respects the means supposed to have been employed, but differ as to the persons employing them. The fourth looking to the appellees, or some of them, orto others acting with the privity and by the directions of them, or some of them. The sixth to Caroline Calvert, or some others by her procurement. The seventh to the appellees, or some of them; and the eighth to Caroline Calvert, and George Calvert, or one of them, or others by their procurement.

The questions then, that were presented to the jury for trial upon these issues, are questions of Mental incapacity—Undue importunity—Undue influence—And of fraud.

The third section of the first sub-ch. of the act of 1798, eh. 101, provides, “that no will, testament or codicil, shall be good and effectual for any purpose whatsoever, unless the person making the same, be, at the time of executing or acknowledging it, of sound and disposing mind, and capable of executing a valid deed or contract.” These latter words, “and capable of executing a valid deed or contract,” are of importance, in the investigation of every question touching the. mental capacity of a testator. He who is not competent to execute a valid deed or contract, is, under the testamentary system of this State, incompetent to make a valid will or testament. It is not sufficient of itself, that a testator should be able to describe his feelings, or give correct answers to ordinary questions. His feelings at the moment may dictate his description of them, and the questions may prompt the answers, and yet he may be inadequate [300]*300to the transaction of other business, and unable to dispose of his estate with understanding and discretion.

The written law of this State furnishes the rule, by which the capacity of a testator is to be measured; and the inquiry must always be, whether, at the time of executing or acknowledging the will or testament, he was capable of executing a valid deed or contract; that is here, the standard by which the mental capacity of a testator is to be ascertained, and no inferior grade of intellect will suffice. That state of mental capacity is to be determined by the condition of the testator’s mind, at the time of his executing or acknowledging the will or testament. For notwithstanding his incapacity at a prior or subsequent time should be proved, it does not necessarily follow that he was incompetent when the will or testament was made, as his incapacity before or after that time might have been the effect of a temporary cause. But for the purpose of shedding light upon the state of his mind, at the time the will or testament was made, evidence of its condition, and of his bodily imbecility, both before and after that period, may be produced. And a jury may, upon the whole evidence infer incompetency at the time of executing or acknowledging the will or testament, according to the character and cause of the entire incapacity proved; which may be established by proof of the conversations or actions, or declarations of the testator inconsistent with sanity, or of all of them taken together. The general maxim is, semel furibundas semper furibundas prasumitur. It is not of itself sufficient to avoid a will or testament, that its dispositions are imprudent, and not to be accounted for. But a will or testament may, by its provisions, furnish intrinsic evidence, involving it in suspicion, and tending

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 G. & J. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-calvert-md-1833.