Mathews v. Tyree

44 S.E. 526, 53 W. Va. 298, 1903 W. Va. LEXIS 28
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 44 S.E. 526 (Mathews v. Tyree) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mathews v. Tyree, 44 S.E. 526, 53 W. Va. 298, 1903 W. Va. LEXIS 28 (W. Va. 1903).

Opinion

DeNt, Judge:

William P. Bolling and others appeal from certain decrees of the circuit court of Greenbrier county in the chancery cause of Alexander Mathews and J. W. Johnston, executors of the last will and testament of Wm. M. Tyree, plaintiff, against the appellants and others, defendants, and rely on numerous assignments of error which may be-considered under the following classification:

1. In adjudicating the validity of the will in this suit.

2. In erroneously adjudicating the validity of the will on the pleadings and without affording the parties opportunity to produce their proof.

3. In not suspending proceedings until the validity of the will could be determined in a subsequent suit instituted by Mollie T. Tyree, one of the defendants in the circuit court of the United States for the Southern District of West Virginia at Charleston for this purpose.

4. In deciding that Davis and Priddle claims were properly payable out of the personal fund rather than the proceeds of the real estate sold to J. L. Beury.

The plaintiffs filed their bill for the main purpose of having the. will construed, and as incidental thereto they allege “that the said will and codicils were in all respects valid and effective, that they are free from every infirmity and are not subject to objections on any ground or for any reaason whatever.” And they pray that the court “will pass upon and decide as to the validity and force of said will and the true con[300]*300struction thereof.” The purpose of such allegations was to require the defendants if they had any objection to the probate and validity of the will for any cause to assert it so that there might be an end to litigation and the court’s labor in construing the will might not turn out to be useless, and abortive. 22 En. Plead. & Prac. 1215; 2 Story’s Eq. Jur. sec. 1447; 1 Pomeroy (Ed. 1881) sec. 171, 183. In 2 Story’s Equity Jur., sec. 1445, it said: “But although ****** courts of equity will not in an adversary suit entertain jurisdiction ,to determine the 'validity of a will, yet whenever a will comes before them as an incident in a cause, they necessarily entertain jurisdiction to some extent over the subject, and if the validity of the will is admitted by the parties, or if it is otherwise established by the proper modes of proof they act upon it to the fullest extent. If either of the parties should afterward bring a new suit to contest the determination of the validity of the will so proved, the court of equity which has so determined it would certainly grant a perpetual injunction.” Sestion 1446, “the usual manner in which courts of equity proceed in such cases is this: if the parties admit the due execution and validity of the will, it is deemed ipso fado sufficiently proved.” But if the parties contest the validity of the will tire court either suspends proceedings in the cause until the parties try its validity before the proper tribunal, or it directs an issue of devisavit vel non. “In such cases the jurisdiction exercised by courts of equity is somewhat analogous to that exercised in cases of bills of peace; and it is founded upon the like considerations in order to suppress interminable litigation and to give security and repose to titles.” Section 1447. It is also said in note to said section that “The heir at law cannot come into equity for the purpose of having an issue to try the validity of the will at law, unless it be by consent.” And further, “Courts of equity do not seem to have any direct or original authority to establish the validity of a will of'real estate per se, but only as incidental to some other object.” Mr.. Pomeroy on page 171, sec. 171, enumerates among other powers of a court of equity the establishment and construction of wills. There seems to' be no good reason why executors in filing a bill to construe a will should not as an incident thereto’ call upon the devisees, parties to the suit, to admit or deny the validity of the will, that [301]*301there may be an end to litigation, and they elect to accept the provisions of the will or repudiate them; being analogous to. cases of election wherein it is said “that a person who is entitled to any benefit under a will or other instrument must, fi-lie claims that benefit abandon every right or interest the assertion of which would defeat, even partially any of the provisions of that instrument. 11 A. & E. En. Law (2d Ed.) 60. In Birmingham v. Kirwin, 2 Sch. & Lef. 449, it is held: “The general rule is that a person cannot accept and reject the same instrument.” A summoned party who fails to answer and accepts the provisions of the will would be bound by the decree, and could not afterwards attack the validity of the will thereby establish. But it is claimed that the jurisdiction to impeach or establish wills is fixed by statute, and is mere probate jurisdiction. In the cases of Dower v. Church, 21 W. Va. 23, Couch v. Eastman, 27 W. Va. 796, and Kerr v. Lunsford, 31 W. Va. 659, the following Virginia decisions, this Court held that in a suit to test the validity of a will on an issue devisavit vel non, the functions of the suit were exhausted when this question was settled, and it was improper to proceed to- a construction of the will rightly so' for the good reason that a person cannot accept and reject the same instrument at the same time. A court of equity will not entertain such inconsistent pleadings. The Virginia decisions hold that in suits brought to impeach the validity of a will the court performs no other function than to superintend the jury; that it is the duty of the court to- make up and submit the issue, and there its function ends. The language of the Yirginiaa statute is, “An issue shall- be made up whether tire writing produced bo the will or not.” About making up this issue, neither the court or the parties have any discretion. Our statute, ever since the division of the states has been entirely different and is, “if required by either part, -a trial by a jury shall be ordered.” In Virginia the court had no authority even by consent of the parties to determine the validity of a will. In our state the parties may waive a jury as in all other cases of conflicting evidence, and submit the question of validity to the court for determination. Hence the court has the power to determine the matter without the intervention of a jury. This makes [302]*302a vast defference in the law., although a court of chancery may still be regarded as a probate court in passing on the validity of a will. But when it comes to the establishment of a wilt an entirely different question is presented. While there is a conflict between the impeachment of the will and its construction, the.re is none between the establishment of a will and its construction. To construe a will is to establish it according to the intention of the testator. In the case of Robinson v. Allen, 11 Grat. 785, it was held that whore a will has been regularly admitted to- probate in the proper court, its validity could not be questioned in a collateral proceeding.

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Bluebook (online)
44 S.E. 526, 53 W. Va. 298, 1903 W. Va. LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathews-v-tyree-wva-1903.