42 Tex. 322 | Tex. | 1874
The. appellee, McFaddin, brought suit in the District Court of Jefferson county, on the 3d of July, 1873, on the bond of appellant, as surviving executor of Nancy Hutchinson’s estate, and joined the surviving security on the bond, A. J. Tevis, as a defendant. The suit being brought to recover one-fourtli of the amount of a legacy of five hundred dollars, bequeathed by Nancy Hutchinson in her last will, to her four grandchildren ; plaintiff claiming to be the owner, by a purchase, of the amount sued for. Numerous defenses were set up by defendant Stephenson, and after various amend-,
The eighteen assignments of error, and the questions presented in appellant’s bill of exceptions, are embraced in three general causes of complaint:
First. The overruling defendant’s exceptions to plaintiff’s petition. The exception taken, that the representatives of the deceased executor ITebert, and the representatives of the two securities deceased, were not made defendants, and that the court erred in overruling this exception, does not appear from the record to be sustained, the only action shown to have been taken by Hebert was in returning, in connection with his co-executor Stephenson, an inventory and appraisement of the estate as directed in the will. The defendant Tevis makes no complaint that the representatives of the deceased securities were not made defendants, and the principal cannot complain that the representatives of the securities on his bond are not made defendants to answer for his liability. Whatever defects may have existed in plaintiff’s pleadings were caused by his amendments made after defendants had filed their exceptions, and the court did not err in overruling exceptions which, when acted on, had no vitality by reason of the plaintiff’s amendments.
Second. The refusal of the court to permit defendant Stephenson to show that Confederate money and bank bills were the currency of the country at the date of the execution of the will, and that the Confederate currency was valueless, was not error. The testatrix left a large estate, more than ten thousand dollars’ worth, nearly all in town lots or other lands, remaining, after satisfying the bequests mentioned in her will. She evidently intended to leave her grandchildren something that had a value, and she left ample property under the absolute control of her executors to carry out her intention. The evidence sought to be introduced was, under all the circumstances, .wholly irrelevant, and was properly excluded. Neither was
• In the charge of the court we see no error sufficient to authorize a reversal, the charge on the material question was substantially correct. The descendants in their amended answer asserted that partition of all the estate had been made,
Affirmed.