80 Pa. Super. 434 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1923
Opinion by
Samuel Stinger was a bachelor eighty-nine years of age and for the last' few months of his life lived with his nephew, Grover Shaffer, the appellee. During this period while ill, he opened a bureau drawer in his bedroom and took therefrom a package of papers, and withdrew from the package a red envelope having on its back a picture of the Chambersburg Trust Company building at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, together with the words, “The Chambersburg Trust Co., Chambersburg, Pa.,” printed in large letters, which envelope he, handed to the plaintiff, saying, “Here, this is yours.” The latter took the envelope and found it contained a certificate of deposit for one thousand dollars issued by the trust company to Stinger. The question we are asked to decide is, can a gift of this kind represented by a certificate payable to the registered owner be sustained as passing title without the written assignment of the certificate?
There was sufficient proof of the transaction. The mother and brother of the donee testified to the facts involved and their testimony was clear and satisfactory and furnished basis for the finding. We do not attach any weight to the argument that there was no proof that the deceased knew what was in the envelope. All the circumstances attending the gift show that he knew what he was about, made a selection of the envelope from a number of others. There was relation between the contents of the envelope and the inscription on the outside. He expressed a favorable opinion of the donee and declared he did not intend to forget him. The only inference that can be legitimately drawn from these facts shows that the donor intended to give his nephew the contents of the envelope and that he knew what was in it. The plaintiff had the burden of proof, Northern Trust Co. v. Huber, 274 Pa. 329, and he showed that the gift was the voluntary and intelligent act of the donor.
All the assignments of error overruled and the decree of the court affirmed. Appellant to pay the costs.