Lewis v. Darling

57 U.S. 1, 14 L. Ed. 819, 16 How. 1, 1853 U.S. LEXIS 305
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedFebruary 18, 1854
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 57 U.S. 1 (Lewis v. Darling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewis v. Darling, 57 U.S. 1, 14 L. Ed. 819, 16 How. 1, 1853 U.S. LEXIS 305 (1854).

Opinion

Mr. Justice WAYNE

delivered the opinion of the court.

We have verified the statement of the pleadings in-this case attached to the brief .of the counsel for the appellant, by a comparison of it with the record, and shall adopt it for the purpose of giving our judgment upon this appeal.

Upon this statement, the counsel for the appellant urges five grounds for the reversal of the judgment.

1. It is said that ,the bill is materially defective for want of parties, that the wife of the appellant,' through whom alone he claims and whose rights he repre-sents, ought to have been made a party.

■' .2. That there is no allegation in the original or amended bill, that all the personal property of the testator had come into the hands of the-appellant, or that-so much of it as he may have received, was sufficient to pay the legacy claimed by-the appellee,Sarah Darling.

*8 3. That there is no averment in the bill that there was not sufficient personal property to pay the legacy.

4. That the effect of the plaintiff’s replication being an ach mission of the sufficiency of the defendant’s ' second answer, there is no evidence, to authorize the decree against the defendant.

5. If this be not the effect of the replication, yet the answer is distinct and full, and there is no evidence that any property belonging to the estate of Samuel Betts ever came into the hands of the defendant, and that he cannot be liable de bonis propriis.

We have given these points because they raise every objection "which can be made against the judgment of the court below, either upon the pleading or the merits of the case. We will discuss them' successively.

The record certainly discloses the fact, that the wife of the appellant nas such an interest in the controversy, that no decree can be given which will not affect it. She is the residuary legatee of her father, and all the property given by that clause of his will' became hers immediately upon his death. The interest which the appellant may have in it was acquired from his marriage with her, after her father’s death. It is strictly marital, arid the extent of it during the coverture, or afterwards if he lives longer than his wife, depends upon the law of the sovereignty where the real estate may be, and, so far as the personal property is concerned, upon the investiture of it in the legatee according to the law of her father’s domicil at the time of his death. Or it may depend upon a marriage contract, if any was made'. We' have not undertaken to say what that interest is, or may become. We have only intimated upon what it may depend; and .will further say, that the children, in the event of their mother’s death, may acquire an interest in the property, independently of their father’s control. If she- be already dead, then such of' the children as are- sui juris should be made parties to the plaintiff’s bill. And -if there are other children still minors, the court should have them made parties by a guardian of its appointment, excluding their father from such an office. As the case stands, it is not too late to amend the bill by making the proper parties. The rule in equity, permitting it to be done, is this; that on the hearing of a cause, even upon an appeal, an order may be made for the cause to stand over, with liberty to the plaintiff to amend by adding proper parties, if it. appears that the plaintiff is,-entitled to relief, but that it cannot be given for the want of proper parties. The equity -of the plaintiff is sufficiently obvious in this case for the application of the rule. The proofs in the case show that she has a strong *9 claim upon the appellant for the payment of the legacy for which she sues him. It is manifest that the legacy has been made by the testator a charge upon both the real and personal estate which he means to give to his daughter. It will not do, then, to permit it to be defeated in this suit by any mistake or unskilfulness in pleading. We shall then reverse the judgment appealed from, in conformity with the first objection made against it. But we will remand the cause to the Circuit Court for further proceedings, and for‘the proper parties to be made.

The second and third objections are also exceptions to the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s pleadings. Ik is said, that there are no averments in the bill, that all the personal property of the testator had come into the possession of the appellant. And if any part had come, that it was sufficient to pay the legacy. And further, that the bill contains no averment, that there was not sufficient personal property to pay the legacy. These objections are made upon the supposition that the legacy, in this instance, cannot be charged upon the real estate of the testator 57 il it has been shown that there is not personal property enough to pay the legacy. That depends upon ‘ the intention, as it is to be collected from the residuary clause of the testator’s will.

It is, “And as to all the rest and remainder of my property, debts, rights, and actions, of what kind and nature soc.ver, that may belong or appertain to me, I ríame and appoint as my sole and universal heiress, the above, named Maria Margaret Betts, my lawful daughter, in order that whatever there may appear to appertain and belong unto me, she may háye and inherit the same, with the blessing of God and my own.” The testator’s real and personal property are found blended by him in the clause together. lie leaves to his daughter all of his property, of every kind, which may remain after the antecedent bequests' and devises in his will have been paid and given to the objects of his bounty. His daughter is to have “the rest and remainder of his property, debts, rights, and actions, of what kind and nature • soever.” lie had previously, in the will, declared that his property consisted of one third in the House established in this city under the firm of Fernando de la Maza Arredondo and Bon, and that it would appear from the accounts, books', and other papers of the company. And he further dec-lares that as both the debts due by him and to him will appear by the books of the company, that he confides it to his partners to collect and pay them. His executors were not to have any thing to do with the collection and payment of Ids debts.

' Their office was to secure any surplus which there might be after his debts were paid, and to apply it according to his will, *10 in the, manner-required by the law of Cuba, where the testator was domiciled at the time of his death. The testator then appoints an executor to fulfil his will in the United States, where he had no- personal property. Now it does riot appear that either of his executors in Cuba or in the United States ever undertook to administer the testator’s estate,under his will. Indeed, the reverse is to be taken for the fact, from the statement of the appellant. There can be, then, no personal property of the testator eo nomine in the United States over which a court ■ of equity in the United States could have any control for the payment of the legacy.

Nor is this a suit against a party, properly representing the testator, for the application of .his personal property to the payment of the legacies.

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Bluebook (online)
57 U.S. 1, 14 L. Ed. 819, 16 How. 1, 1853 U.S. LEXIS 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-darling-scotus-1854.