Lowe v. Hart

125 S.W. 1030, 93 Ark. 548, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 351
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 31, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 125 S.W. 1030 (Lowe v. Hart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowe v. Hart, 125 S.W. 1030, 93 Ark. 548, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 351 (Ark. 1910).

Opinions

Wood, J.,

(after stating the facts). 1. As a “nunc pro tunc order” is intended to state what the court did, and not what it should have done, we must take the finding of the court as correct, that what was done and intended to be done by the orders “was to make the administrator a party.” Tucker v. Hawkins, 72 Ark. 21; Gregory v. Bartlett, 55 Ark. 30; Cox v. Gress, 51 Ark. 224.

The court’s recollection and construction of its own order must be accepted, in the absence of any oral evidence or anything in the record itself to the contrary. The minutes on the judge’s docket do not show that any different order was made than that found by the court to have been made at the time -of the entry on the minutes of what was done on the judge’s docket. These minutes do not warrant us in reaching a conclusion contrary to the finding of the court. It was within the sound discretion of the court under the evidence adduced to refuse to make the order nunc pro tunc, as requested by appellant. See 17 Enc. Pleading & Practice, 921, 926; Stockdale v. Johnson, 14 Ia. 178.

But, even if the rulings of the court were erroneous, the error is not prejudicial. . The bank was a mere depository of the fund, and held the same in trust for the owner, as the jury must have known. The interest that a cashier and clerk would have in a matter of that kind would be so slight that no sensible juror would distrust their evidence on that account or give it less weight.

2. It follows that there was no error in the rulings of the court in refusing appellant’s prayer designated “statement” and his prayer number 6, nor in the giving of appellee’s prayer number 1.

3. There was no error in refusing appellant’s prayer number 8. The court in several instructions at appellant’s request fully covered the proposition of law contained in this prayer, and the jury were specifically instructed on this point. See Maxey v. State, 66 Ark. 523.

4. Prayer number 2, given at the request of appellee, was a correct declaration of law as to the essential elements of a gift inter vivos. The appellee claimed the money on deposit as a “gift,” and under the allegations of her complaint she could prove that it was either a gift inter vivos or causa mortis. In another instruction the court correctly told the jury what was necessary to constitute a gift causa mortis. These instructions, taken together, accurately declared the law as to the essential elements of a gift either inter vivos or causa mortis, and gave the jury a correct guide to determine from the evidence whether .there was a gift of either kind. It often occurs that the law'applicable to every phase of a case can not be presented in a single instruction.

“If the various instructions given in a case separately present every phase of the law as a harmonious whole, there is no error in a particular instruction failing to carry qualifications which are explained in others.” St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. v. Graham, 83 Ark. 61; Southern Anthracite Coal Co. v. Bowen, ante p. 140, and cases there cited.

The separate and independent propositions of law defining the two kinds of gifts were not erroneous, and were not in conflict. The two together declared the law applicable to the facts in evidence. Thomas v. State, 74 Ark. 431; Lackey v. State, 67 Ark. 416.

5. It follows also that the court did not err in refusing to compel appellee to elect as to the character of the gift. The sole issue was whether or not there was a gift. If appellee established the fact of a gift, either inter vivas or ccmsa mortis, her cause of action was complete, because in either case, if proved, she was the owner of the money and entitled to recover. See Newton v. Snyder, 44 Ark. 42; Nolen v. Harden, 43 Ark. 307; Ammon v. Martin, 59 Ark. 191; Hatcher v. Buford, 60 Ark. 169; Ragan v. Hill, 72 Ark. 307. There was but one cause of action stated in the complaint.

6. Instructions three and five given át appellee’s request are not instructions on the weight of the evidence. They are not so framed as to give undue prominence to any particular fact. The jury are told that they may consider “all the facts and circumstances surrounding the transaction;” and while mention is made of particular facts which the evidence tends to prove,' no one of these is isolated and stressed so as to give it special emphasis or importance over any other fact proper for the jury to consider. Similar instructions have been approved in former opinions of this court. Campbell v. Carnahan, 13 S. W. 1098. It is the duty of the court “to give specific instructions correctly and clearly applying the law to the facts of the case.” St. Louis & S. F. Rd. Co. v. Crabtree, 69. Ark. 134; Taylor v. McClintock, 87 Ark. 243, 280-281, and cases cited. Such instructions do not violate the rule against “singling out certain parts of the evidence.” St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Robert Hitt, 76 Ark. 227.

7. This court, as early as Yarborough v. Arnold, 20 Ark. 592, 598, announced the rule that in civil cases it is the duty of the jury “to decide in favor of the party in whose favor the weight of the evidence preponderates, and according to the reasonable probability of truth.” It is only in criminal cases that the jury must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt. The rule has never been departed from in this State, and is the prevailing doctrine. See cases cited in 11 A. & E. Ency. of Law, (2 ed.) 491, and cases cited.

There is no exception to the rule in cases of gifts “ccmsa mortis,” and therefore the court did not err in telling the jury in instruction nine that the burden was on the appellee to establish a valid gift of the certificate .by a preponderance of the evidence. This rule as to the burden of proof does not in any manner contravene the doctrine that the evidence to establish a donatio causa mortis should be “clear and convincing, strong and satisfactory,” as is properly held in many jurisdictions. Lewis v. Merritt, 21 N. E. (N. Y.) 141, and numerous cases cited in appellant’s brief. The latter doctrine relates, not to the burden of proof or the preponderance of the evidence, but to its quality or probative force. Instruction number nine was an instruction on the burden of proof and declared the law on that subject applicable.to the case at bar.

The instructions upon the whole were comprehensive and clear declarations, submitting accurately every phase of the evidence to the jury. If it were not so, the cause would have to be reversed, for the most difficult question with us has been to determine whether or not there was any evidence to sustain the verdict.

8. Giving the evidence its strongest probative force in favor of appellee, a majority of the court have reached the conclusion that there is sufficient evidence to support the verdict. Although, if sitting as jurors, we might have rendered a different verdict, yet we feel that, under well established rules of this court, we could not disturb it without invading the province of the jury. St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Petty, 63 Ark. 94; Wallis v. St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co., 77 Ark. 556; Rogers v. Choctaw, O. & G. Rd. Co., 76 Ark. 520; Priest v. Hodges, 90 Ark. 131; Scott v. Moore, 89 Ark.

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Bluebook (online)
125 S.W. 1030, 93 Ark. 548, 1910 Ark. LEXIS 351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowe-v-hart-ark-1910.