155 Mo. App. 490 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1911
This is a proceeding for the widow’s $400 allowance out of the personal estate of her deceased husband. The finding and judgment were for plaintiff an<i defendant prosecutes the appeal.
It should be said that the court is profoundly grateful to counsel on either side for the diligent and painstaking manner in which they have briefed and argued the case, for both the main question and the sidelights thereon have been greatly elucidated by competent and discriminating lawyers, with a degree of accuracy and precision'that is commendable. As a result of these efforts, we have read many authorities, and ascertain that, though there is conflict in the cases, the rule of decision seems entirely clear on the statutes.
The precise question presented for decision here was considered by our Supreme Court in Griffith v. Canning, 54 Mo. 282, in which the position assumed by defendant executor was sustained and that case does not appear to have been expressly overruled. All of the material features of the present controversy are indentical with those involved in that case, and whatever may be our view of the law on the subject, it would be the duty of the court to determine this controversy in accord with