10 Watts 354 | Pa. | 1840
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Unless the evidence mentioned in the bills of exceptions tended to prove something that would either, in law or equity, have made the defendant, William Robinson, a trustee as to a moiety, or some other part of the lot at least, for the benefit of the plaintiff or his assignor, John Braden, there is no ground whatever upon which it could, with propriety, have been received. But there is no pretence for saying that it tended, in the slightest degree, to prove a trust created by the agreement of the parties. Its tendency, at most, was only to prove that James Robinson, the father of the defendant, being the guardian of John Braden, until he attained full age, paid the taxes assessed on the lot in question probably as such, while he was guardian; and that afterwards having become part owner of it, as it appeared from the 'evidence adduced by the plaintiff himself, might have paid them on account of his interest therein out of his own moneys. For it was not offered to show that, during the time he paid the taxes, he had in his hands any moneys belonging to John Braden, out of which he might have paid them; nor do I consider that this would have materially altered the case, if such proof had been offered. The offer, however, was to prove, in the first place, that James Robinson at the time of his death had moneys of John Braden in his possession, or in other words, that he was indebted to Braden for moneys received for the use of the latter, which must have come into the hands of the defendant, who succeeded to all the rights of his father. But admitting that, from the evidence thus offered, the jury might have inferred an agreement made by James Robinson in his lifetime with John Braden, to pay the taxes assessed upon the lot, there is still no colour for saying that such an agreement was to endure beyond the will and pleasure of the parties, much less beyond the life of either. It could not after the death of James Robinson, impose any obligation of an executory nature upon either his real or personal representatives; consequently upon the death of James Robinson, Braden had no reason to confide in William Robinson’s paying the taxes upon the lot as his father had done in his lifetime. It was then the duty of Braden to have attended to it himself if he wished it done, or if inconvenient for himself to do so, to have employed some one to do it for him;
We are also of opinion that the exceptions taken to the charge of the court have not been sustained. The court in saying to. the jury that “the responsibilities and trust of his father did not descend upon the son,” (the defendant,) plainly meant, that if there were any responsibility or trust created on the part of the father, it could not from any thing that appeared in the cause be considered 'more than personal, and therefore that it died with hint. If there were any trust or responsibility resting on the father to pay the taxes assessed on lot No. 11,9, it was of this nature; for there is not the slightest ground for raising a responsibility or trust of the sort connected with the title to the lot, which could have descended therewith upon the son. Neither are we prepared to decide that the court erred in what it said to the jury, as to one tenant in common buying in an outstanding and better title, with a view to turn the other out of possession and become himself the sole owner of the estate. But such was not the relationship between John Braden and William Robinson when the latter bought the lot of Leckey. Neither Braden nor Robinson had the least colour of claim to it then, The sale made of it some eighteen years before that, divested them completely of all their right to it after the expiration of two years from the date of the sale. Had either of them redeemed the lot as provided by the act of assembly, within the two years, such .redemption would doubtless have enured to the benefit of both, because it would have been a defeasance of Leckey’s purchase, and have placed Braden and Robinson in the same position that they stood, in regard to the ownership of the lot, at and im
Judgment affirmed.