112 Va. 802 | Va. | 1911
delivered the opinion of the court.
This record shows that by deed recorded January 23, 1908, John H. Silling made a general assignment for the
The answer filed by the defendant, Annie E. Silling, denies every charge of fraud made in the bill against herself or her husband, and asserts that the utmost good faith characterized the conveyance'to her which is assailed; that the lot upon which the store-house was built at Stokesville was bought for $100 by her and paid for with her own means, and that the building thereon was erected entirely with means furnished by her for that purpose; that the whole was an investment made by her for her own benefit; that through a mistake of the scrivener who prepared the deed the property was conveyed to her husband instead of herself, and that this mistake was intended to be corrected by the conveyance sought to be set aside; and that her husband never at any time had any beneficial interest in the property and never claimed any.
Both the husband and wife were introduced as witnesses to sustain the bona fides of the deed assailed, but their testimony was objected to upon the ground'that under the
There is much force in the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant, that this suit is not based upon the Virginia statute of' fraudulent and voluntary conveyances, but is based upon a Federal act, and that the validity of the deed in controversy is to be tested alone by the rules of Federal procedure as fixed by Federal statutes and decisions; and that the disability imposed upon husband and wife by the Virginia statute cannot by legal intendment be stretched to extend that disability to a proceeding under a Federal statute to set aside a paper declared void by a Federal statute. See Samuels’ case, 110 Va. 901, 66 S. E. 222.
This question, however, need not be decided, because the evidence in this case, other than that given by the appellant and her husband, shows that the transaction in question was bona fide and without prejudice to the rights of the appellee or the creditors represented by him.
John H. Silling, the husband of appellant, was called as a witness by the appellee in the bankrupt proceeding and there testified at length. That deposition is quoted from by the appellee in his bill in this case and the whole deposition is filed by the appellant as part of her answer to the bill. This deposition of John H. Silling, taken in the bankruptcy proceedings, is conceded to be proper evidence in this case, and it, together with other competent evidence herein, abundantly shows that the appellant was amply able to buy the Stokesville lot and pay for the building erected thereon, and that she did in fact buy the lot and pay for it and the improvements put thereon with her own means, as an investment for her own benefit, and that her husband
It being satisfactorily established that the property in controversy was bought and paid for by the appellant with her own means and for her own benefit, and that her husband did not have and was never intended to have any interest therein, it follows that when the deed was made conveying the property to John H. Silling, a trust was thereby created by operation of law in favor of Mrs. Silling, the party paying the purchase money, and when Silling subsequently transferred to his wife the legal title held by him for her benefit, he did no more than a court of
In the case at bar, the charges of fraud are wholly unsustained and the good faith of the transaction assailed is fully' established. The decree complained of must, therefore, be reversed, and this court will enter such decree as the circuit court ought to have entered, dismissing the bill filed by the appellee with costs.
Reversed.