23 Miss. 161 | Miss. | 1851
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff, as surviving executor of William H. Kilcrease, brought an action of detinue for certain slaves, against the defendant, and, the jury having found for the defendant, the case comes up on a motion for a new trial on the evidence merely.
The property in dispute originally belonged to Thomas N. Shelby, who died in December, 1831, leaving a widow, Mary, and four children, infants, and one other was born after the death of the father. In 1832 or 1833, an informal division of the property was made by some of the neighbors, called in for that purpose by Barnes, who had manied one of the distribu-tees, and the widow. In this division, Moses D. Shelby, then himself a minor, professed to represent or act for the younger children, though he was not then guardian. Barnes received his share of the property, but the rest of it remained in possession of the widóV. The negroes now claimed, were set apart or allotted to her by this division. In December, 1833, the
In January, 1839, M. D. Shelby filed his petition in the probate court, for distribution of his father’s estate, which was granted. At the same time, Mrs. Kilcrease also filed her petition for her distributive share and dower, in Thomas N. Shelby’s estate, which was granted, and on these applications distribution was made, in which seven of the same negroes first allotted to her by the informal division, were again set apart to her, though then- increase, being part of the negroes claimed in the declaration, were set apart to other distributees. This distribution was duly confirmed by the court. In 1842, the co-executor again applied to the probate court to compel her to return an inventory of the negroes, as part of the estate of William H. Kilcrease, which she again refused to do, claiming them as as her separate property, and the court overruled the application; and she continued to hold and claim them as her own, until August, 1846, when she died, after having disposed of them by will, and they came into the possession of the defendant, as executor, he being also the principal legatee. This suit was brought on the 18th of March, 1847.
On this state of facts, it is most manifest that the plaintiff cannot recover, unless he can uphold the first distribution.
It seems that Mrs. Kilcrease never admitted these negroes to be a part of the estate of her husband, Kilcrease, but claimed them as part of the estate of her first husband, and this point was decided in her favor, by the probate court, in April, 1839, when her co-executor endeavored to coerce her to include them in an inventory. That was an adjudication that she did not hold the property as executrix. It was acquiesced in. She not only denied the trust, but her adverse right was sustained and adjudged. From that time the statute of limitations commenced running, and six years had elapsed before this suit was brought, and there is no escape from the operation of the statute of six years, which has been pleaded. Although under the act of 1844, the limitation is changed to three years, yet the last act expressly provides that the previous law may continue to run' where it had commenced. Either act might have
Judgment affirmed.