5 W. Va. 128 | W. Va. | 1872
The defendants demurred to the bill, and answered also. The demurrers were overruled, and a decree rendered for the plaintiffs. The appellants insist here that the demurrers were improperly overruled for several reasons. In the first pla'ce it is insisted that the plaintiffs, Avho claim as devisees of William Smith, do not make a case to entitle them to relief in a court of equity; but that if they are entitled to any relief it is in a court of law.
The case of Gaines and wife vs. Chew and others, 2 Howard, 619, is relied on by the appellees to sustain the bill in this
But the bill in the case under consideration is different. It contains no charge of fraud against any of the purchasers of the lots of ground mentioned. If the legal title of the lots of ground is in the devisees of Smith, as charged in the bilb and the defendants are in possession of them without any title, as charged in the bill, the remedy is in a court of law. The demurrer ought therefore to have been sustained and the bill dismissed as to the claim of the devisees of Smith; but as to the plaintiff Caldwell, he might, in the discretion of the court, be allowed to proceed with the bill to enforce his debt against the estate of Smith; but additional parties may be necessary.
The decree complained of will have to be reversed, with costs to the appellants, against the devisees of Smith, who are plaintiffs; the demurrers sustained and the cause remanded, with leave to the plaintiff Caldwell to proceed with the suit, if he wishes to do so, for the purpose of enforcing his debt against the estate of the said William Smith, deceased.
Decree reversed.