Page v. Beach

95 N.W. 981, 134 Mich. 51, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 594
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 1903
DocketDocket No. 74
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 95 N.W. 981 (Page v. Beach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Page v. Beach, 95 N.W. 981, 134 Mich. 51, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 594 (Mich. 1903).

Opinion

Hooker, C. J.

The testatrix was about 90 years of age when she made the will in question, and the mother of several adult children. Mrs. Page, a daughter, petitioned for the probate of the will, and the same was contested by several, if not all, of her brothers and sisters. Probate was denied in the probate court, and in the circuit court upon appeal, and the case is before us on writ of error taken by the proponent. The questions submitted to the jury were incompetency of, and undue influence upon, the testatrix.

The testimony shows that Mrs. Beach and her husband resided upon the premises which seem to constitute the chief object of contention, viz., a house and lot. They both made wills some years before this will was made, and they were kept in the house, which was thought by some of the sons and daughters to be imprudent. Upon one occasion, when their son Lyman Beach, of Bay City, and their daughter Mary Page, and perhaps other children, were present, it was agreed that Lyman should take these and other papers of his parents, and deposit them in the Review & Herald Company’s vault, in Battle Creek, which he did. Subsequently Mary Page became dissatisfied about this, and complained to her parents that Lyman had gotten all of the property in his control, and would swindle them out of it; and so much was said that on Lyman’s next visit he procured the papers, and returned them.

After the death of Mr. Beach, which occurred a year or two before the will in question was made, there was considerable controversy between the children; Mary Page being especially outspoken. She lived with and cared for the testatrix, and was unwilling to have her sisters in the house. She made very harsh charges against her brothers and sisters to the mother, and conducted herself in a way which gives some color to the charge that she was endeavoring to influence her mother in her favor as to the disposition of the property. At some stage of the proceedings a guardian was appointed for the mother by [53]*53the probate court, and, while the property remained in the custody of Lyman, as executor of his father’s estate, the allowance of $16 a month made by the guardian was paid. The quarrel as to who should be allowed to live with the testatrix became so violent that the guardian attempted to ¡have some other person take charge of her, to the exclusion ■of both Mrs. Page and her sisters; but Mrs. Page seems to have succeeded in retaining her hold, and, about a ■month before the testatrix’s death, arranged with a lawyer to go and see her mother, and draw a will for her, which was done. This will provided that Mary Page should receive the house and lot, and that the remainder of the property should be equally divided.

Several nonprofessional witnesses were permitted to give their opinions against the competency of the testatrix to make a will, and it is contended that this was error, for two reasons, viz.: (1) They'had not stated circumstances inconsistent with competency., before being asked for ■opinions; and (2) the questions should have referred to the particular will in question, and not to any and all wills.

The object of these inquiries was to enable the jury to . judge of the competency of the testatrix. While necessity has led the courts to admit the opinions of nonexpert witnesses as evidence upon the question of competency, they do not recognize the propriety of taking the witnesses’ opinions upon a question of law. The inquiry is ■■directed toward the condition of mind; and if a witness is .asked whether, in his opinion, the person had capacity to make a given contract or will, or a contract or will, the witness must first determine in his own mind the degree ■of intelligence or capacity that the law requires, and, next, whether the person was possessed of the requisite understanding, memory, self-control, etc. This was pointed ■out in the early cases of White v. Bailey, 10 Mich. 159; Beaubien v. Cicotte, 12 Mich. 501; Kempsey v. McGinniss, 21 Mich. 144. In White v. Bailey a witness was asked, “From what you saw, what was his [testator’s] [54]*54mental capacity ? ” The witness was a physician well acquainted with the testator. It was held that an answer was properly excluded, for the reason that the question asked for the doctor’s opinion of the mental capacity of the testator to make a will, “for that was the issue,” which Mr. Justice Manning said was “a question of law, and not of medical science.” He added:

“It is for the jury, under the instruction of the court as to what is sufficient mental capacity to make a will, to decide on its existence or nonexistence when the will was executed, from the facts testified to by the witness, and not from the witness’ opinion regarding such facts. The jury, and not the witness, are to draw the conclusion from the facts stated by the witness. The opinion of a physician as to the existence of disease or a particular malady, and its effect upon the mind, would be evidence. But a physician’s opinion regarding mental capacity generally, or the mental capacity necessary to make a will, is, in the eye of the law, no better than that of any other person.”

The case of Beaubien v. Cicotte, 12 Mich. 459, contains an exhaustive discussion of the propriety of taking the opinions of witnesses regarding the mental condition of a testator, written by the late Mr. Justice Campbell, and fully vindicates the rule that “all who have had means of observation may testify concerning the existence and measure of capacity. ” But, as foreshadowed by his opinion in the case of White v. Bailey, in which Mr. Justice Christiancy concurred, he held that the witnesses might be asked for their opinions of the testator’s capacity with reference to the matter in controversy, from which it may have been inferred that, in his view, it was proper to ask if, in the opinion of the witness, the testator was mentally competent to make a given will or contract. But it is doubtful if that was intended, for no such question was involved in that case; and, in a case decided a short time afterward, the subject of questions involving legal conclusions was elaborately discussed by Mr. Justice Christiancy, and the Beaubien Case was referred to. Kempsey v. McGinniss, 21 Mich. 143. He there said:

[55]*55“I am aware there are many cases in which, upon similar questions, interrogatories have been allowed to be put to witnesses for their opinion, involving as well their opinion upon the question of law (legal capacity) as upon the question of fact (what the capacity was). In most of them, however, the point I am discussing was not directly raised. And, upon principle, I can see no ground upon which such a course can be justified when the nature of the case does not render it necessary, and it can, as in the present case, be just as well avoided. I think the principle stated by my Brother Manning in White v. Bailey, 10 Mich. 159, is entirely correct, though I did not think the question to the witness in that case called upon him to give an opinion upon testamentary capacity, and for this and other reasons apparent in the case I did not concur in my Brother Manning’s opinion, but in that of my Brother Campbell.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 N.W. 981, 134 Mich. 51, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-v-beach-mich-1903.