109 Mich. 98 | Mich. | 1896
(after stating the facts).
Soon after the execution of the original will, Mr. Rivard commenced, by codicils, to diminish the shares of some and increase those of others, until finally, by these codicils and deeds of conveyance, he had practically disinherited all but Paul and Ephraim, and left to them almost the entirety of a property worth between $250,000 and $400,000. Some of those whom he thus disinherited were in more need of his bounty than Paul and Ephraim, because they were less able to take care of themselves, and were possessed of less property. Every person will
In Ward v. Ward, 37 Mich. 258, the objection made
“The ground of the objection was not stated at all, and, considering the circumstances, the point now urged was not so obvious as to probably occur to the judge’s mind on the tender of a general objection. The plaintiff in error is therefore not entitled to insist on the ground here taken.”
In Stevens v. Hope, 52 Mich. 65, it is said:
“Objections made in this form are not entitled to notice, unless it happens that the true point of objection is too palpable to call for anything more definite.” See, also, Brown v. Weightman, 62 Mich. 557; Seventh-Day Adventist Pub. Assn. v. Fisher, 95 Mich. 274.
Counsel cannot now raise the point that these witnesses had not shown sufficient facts and knowledge upon which to base an opinion.
To similar questions propounded to the witness Gore, the specific objection was made that he had not shown sufficient knowledge on his part to give an opinion. We are all of the opinion that this witness’ testimony was competent. He had described looks and actions and language inconsistent with a normal state of mind. We deem it unimportant to state his testimony.
It is now urged that this question was incompetent because it includes certain facts which are indicative of sanity, rather than insanity, and that the jury were given to understand by the question that they were inserted as indicative of insanity. No such objection was made upon the trial, and it will not now be considered by us. The court, of its own motion, did modify some of the hypothetical statements, which were eliminated from the question. If counsel for proponents objected to other statements, .they should have called the attention of the court to them. The usual and better practice is to first introduce all the evidence to support the assumed facts stated in the hypothetical question. If, however, after the close of the testimony, it be found that such question contains assumed facts which there is no evidence to support, opposing counsel should move to have the answer stricken out, and excluded from the consideration of the jury. Wilkinson v. Spring Works, 73 Mich. 418. The competency of such questions is too well established to be now questioned. The duty of the trial judge is to limit the question to those facts which, if the jury find them to be true, are indicative of insanity. The hypothetical question in this case included the facts which the contestants had given evidence tending to sustain.
The second question was attacked in the court below, and is attacked here, upon the ground that it included moral obligations, and that it is of no consequence whether Mr. Rivard did or did not understand his moral •obligations to others. It is insisted that the question and answer related to the moral incompetency of the testator, -and not to his mental incompeteucy, which is the test.
“Here, then, we have the measure of the degree of mental power which should be insisted on. If the human instincts and affections, or the moral sense, become pervérted by mental disease; if insane suspicion or aversion take the place of natural affection; if reason and judgment are lost, and the mind becomes a prey to insane delusions calculated to interfere with and disturb its functions, and to lead to a testamentary disposition due only to their baneful influence,—in such a case it is obvious that the condition of the testamentary power fails, and that a will made under such circumstances ought not to stand.”
The rigid cross-examination elicited many things favorable to the proponents, and gave the jury all the essential information for their consideration in determining how much weight they would give to the opinion of the expert. There was no error in admitting this testimony.
On cross-examination the witness was asked, “Would you use it to your own children?” He answered under objection and exception. It was probably not proper cross-examination. It had no relevancy to the subject-matter of his testimony in chief. It would, however, be a reflection upon the intelligence of any jury to hold that they could be misled or prejudiced by the answer, which was: “No; I would not, myself.” Judgments should not be set aside for such trivial errors.
Apart from the question of undue influence, which has already been disposed of, the theory of the proponents is that the record contains no evidence of general incompetency, the result of senile dementia or general insanity, or of an insane delusion which affected the testamentary
“ When the monomania is conceded, it is only necessary to inquire further whether the provisions of the will are or are not affected by it, and the will stands or falls by that test. [Citing a large number of authorities.] A*117 man may believe himself to be the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and nevertheless make a perfectly sensible disposition of his property; and the courts will sustain it, when it appears that his mania did not dictate its provisions.”
The converse of the proposition is true,—that where the monomania or delusion does dictate its provisions, and rer suits in the disinheritance of the subjects of the delusion, whom he would otherwise remember in his will, it cannot stand. We are not dealing with a testator who has no children, but only collateral heirs, to whom he owes no duty, legal or moral, but with a parent, whose disinheritance ought, in the common sense of mankind, to be based upon some good reason. For this reason the court rightly’ instructed the jury that they might consider the terms of the'will, in connection with the other evidence, in determining the question of the monomania or delusion. This is peculiarly true of the present case. These codicils present some peculiar features, which indicate a loss of memory and an unstable character. There were only 2 weeks between the second and third; 17 days between the eighth and ninth; 5 days between the tenth and eleventh; the third and fourth were made upon the same day; the eighth and ninth are identical in language. We find no satisfactory explanation of the execution of these two codicils within a few days of each other. By the sixth codicil he took away from his children all control of his funeral, burial, and selection of his grave and the erection of a monument, and committed it to his attorney, Mr. Ward. He disinherited his youngest daughter. If the testimony of the contestants is worthy of belief, he was under the insane delusion that she was an inmate of a house of ill. fame.
There is no shadow of a reason shown for this belief. If the jury found that this insane delusion was the cause of his disinheriting her, it alone would be sufficient to invalidate the will. Haines v. Hayden, 95 Mich. 332. The delusion in that case was that his wife was unfaith
It was said in McGinnis v. Kempsey, “If a party makes a will contrary to natural justice, this, with other facts, may be considered.” The testator’s daughter Rose was about 12 years of age when her mother died. The evidence for contestants showed that she assumed the mother’s place in the household; did most of the work; she and her little sister milked the cows, and brought water from the lake, several hundred feet away; that she was faithful, obedient, and uncomplaining; that her lot was a hard one; that she did work which no father, possessed of the property which her father had, ought to ‘permit a daughter to do. Nothing occurred to estrange him from her until her marriage with Lodewyck. There is no evidence that he had any ill will towards Pauline, Lodewyck’s first wife. Either from an unfortunate marriage, or from other causes, the mind of his daughter Archange had become unbalanced, and after she left her husband her father took her to an asylum for care and treatment. The common sense of mankind condemns, as contrary to natural justice, a will which practically disinherits such children, and leaves the bulk of a large fortune to two who have done no more than they to deserve it, and are better able to meet the vicissitudes and struggles of life; and courts and juries have the right to take that fact into consideration, in determining the competency of the testator to make the will.
The delusions claimed to directly affect the will are his belief that his daughter Julia, whom he totally disinherited, was an inmate of a house of ill fame; that Charles was a drunkard; and that his son-in-law Lodewyck, whose children he left with a mere pittance, and that tied up with harsh restrictions, had designs upon his life. So far as disclosed upon this record, there was not the slightest foundation for his belief in the unchastity of his daughter or the designs of Lodewyck. There is evi
The evidence of the contestants tends to show a marked change in the habits and character of Mr. Rivard after the death of his wife; that he was afraid of her spirit; that he made his sons and the hired man sleep in the sitting room for some time, all having beds on the floor; that they slept with guns by their sides; that he said to his sons, “Your mother might come, and we had better sleep on the floor; ” that he told them to sleep on their backs, so as to listen, for fear she would come, and told them to be ready to grab their guns to shoot if she should come; that he hung sleighbells across the windows; that he attended to the calls of nature in the room at night without using any convenience; that he was accustomed to sit upon his haunches in the house and in the fields, and along the fences; that he exhibited cruelty towards his dumb animals, so extreme and revolting as to be inconsistent with a sane mind; that he sometimes wore summer clothes in winter, and winter clothes in summer; that he sometimes slept with a flannel shirt or drawers tied about his neck, for fear that one of his daughters would cut his throat; and that he furnished diseased meat to eat. Now, while some of these peculiarities would not, of themselves, show incompetency to make a will, still they were important side lights to aid the jury in determining the main issue in the case. Bitner v. Bitner, 65 Pa. St. 347. It is just to here remark that the testimony of the proponents was in flat contradiction to most of the testimony on the part of the contestants, and, if the jury found that the facts testified to by the proponents’ witnesses were true, Mr. Rivard was undoubtedly competent to execute the will, and the will should have been sustained. But these questions of fact
The refusal to submit the special questions numbered 4 and 5 has not been argued by counsel in their briefs, and therefore will not be considered.
The judgment is affirmed.