81 Ala. 414 | Ala. | 1886
— An instrument purporting to be the will of Minna Frank, having been propounded for probate, some of the heirs appeared to contest its validity, and issues were formed, which a jury was empanneled to try, involving inquiries as to the testamentary capacity of the testatrix, and the procurement of the will by undue influence. In such proceeding and on such issues, the particular time, to which the .investigation should be directed, is the execution of the will; but for the purpose of elucidating the competency and freedom of will of the testatrix at that time, her mental condition, preceding and subsequent, and all circumstances relevant to the issues, may be proved. — O’Donnell v. Rodiqer, 76 Ala. 222.
By request of the contestants, the court instructed the jury, that if the testatrix, at the time of the execution of the will, “had a diseased brain, and from this cause or disease, her mind was so unsound as not to remember the names of her relations, and to judge soundly of her acts she was then about to do, or to know and understand the business she then had in view, and to think and act on that business soundly, then she did not have capacity to make a will.” The charge raises the question of the degree of mental capacity requisite to make a valid will. The term, “of sound mind,” as used in our statutes, regulating the power to dispose of property by will, has the same meaning and expresses the same rule as to the test and degree of testa
The first of the alternative propositions of the charge under consideration asserts two [standards of testamentary capacity, inability to remember the names of relations, and to judge soundly of the act about to be done. The hypothetical failure of memory is based, so far as appears from the evidence, upon a mistake in the will in giving the Christian name of a sister of the testatrix, who was the mother of some of the objects of her bounty, though she substan
Instructions to juries, who are generally uninformed of the legal definitions of terms, should furnish, as far as practicable, simple, clear, and definite rules of law, easy of application, and without tending to confuse or mislead. The general phrase “of sound and disposing mind and memory,” though technically correct when used in a charge, conveys to the minds of the average jury no distinct and definite understanding of the legal tests of testamentary competency. The term, “to judge soundly,” is objectionable in an instruction. The expression, a mind so unsound as not to judge soundly, while recognizing degrees of unsoundness, does not assert a correct test of the degree requisite to destroy testamentary capacity. To judge is to compare facts or ideas so as to form an opinion ; and to judge soundly is to form a correct opinion, truly, justly, without error. From this clause of the charge, being in juxtaposition and linked to the other hypothetic fact of inability to remember the names of her relations, the jury may have understood, that if, considering the dispositions of the will in connection with the failure of memory, they were not conformable to what would, ordinarily, be deemed reasonable and just as between all her relations having equal claims, they were authorized to find, from these facts, that the testatrix was of unsound mind sufficient to render her incapable of making a will. A testator should have capacity to make a fair, just, and rational testament; but the capacity being established, however indiscreet and unreasonable may be the dispositions of .the will, however unjust to those to
There is no error in the other charges. They are based on principles well settled. — O’Donnell v. Rodiger, supra; Gilbert, 22 Ala. 529 ; Taylor v. Kelly, supra.
Reversed and remanded.