135 Iowa 338 | Iowa | 1907
Ordinarily, we should be content in saying that the ruling of the trial court in granting a new trial was discretionary, and therefore not to be disturbed; but the only grounds of the motion for new trial in this ease are that the verdict is contrary to the evidence and the law, and the manifest purpose of the appeal from the order sustaining it is to have determined by this court whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict. It is not material to this inquiry that the court had previously declined to direct a verdict for the proponents, for it had the right to correct that ruling, if erroneous, by declining to allow the verdict for contestants to stand. The evidence disclosed that deceased was seventy years of age when he executed the will,
At another time, Eveland, another son-in-law, was having some dispute with Harvey, when the latter sent his boy for his father. The latter, when he came, was exceedingly
The only physician testifying for contestants, in answer to a hypothetical question, answered that he “ certainly was not possessed of a good strong mind; what I should call a strong mind. Question: Was he of sound or unsound mind? Answer: . I suppose that would be unsound if it is not sound.” This amounted to no more than saying that he was not of strong mind, a condition not essential to the validity of the will. Undoubtedly the deceased was a man of irascible temper. He gave way to his passions and carried enmity against those with whom he quarreled for years. The evidence of his quarrels with his sons-in-law shows that he was inclined to take his son’s part without, question, and possibly unwisely. But an. ignorant man is likely to be led by impulse rather than by reason and judgment. Nor was
True, he was illiterate and advanced in years, and had not enjoyed good health; but these facts do not indicate that he did not retain sufficient capacity to execute a will. If he bore grudges against his daughters without cause, and for long periods, it is to be said that the trouble with two of them and their husbands had been adjusted before the execution of the will. Moreover, some men forget more readily than others, and the fact that one- does not forget or forgive quickly cannot be regarded, so long as human nature continues unchanged, as indicative of insanity. That he was often apparently in deep study, gazing on the ground, indicated no more than a habit not inconsistent with the possession of a sound mind. A careful examination of the record has led us to the conclusion that the circumstances related by the witnesses were not so inconsistent with- sanity as to justify the opinion expressed by some of them that the deceased was of unsound mind. In behalf of the proponents, the evidence to the contrary is clear and convincing, and, while it is not the province of this court to weigh conflicting testimony, it is proper, in inquiring whether that of the contestants is sufficient to cany the case to the jury, to consider all the evidence in so far as it tended to explain that upon which the appellants rely.
Nor do we think there was any evidence of undue