23 Ga. App. 677 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1919
Julia Edwards brought suit against W. H. Wade, administrator of the estate of Isaac Waters. Her petition alleged that Wade administered on the estate of Waters at her request, and that “Isaac Waters, during his last illness, on or about the 2nd day of November, 1916, delivered to your petitioner, she being his sister, his bank-book on the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville, Florida, in the savings department of said bank, and told her that he wanted her to have the deposit which was to his credit in said bank, and gave to your petitioner said book, and made her a present of the deposit which was in said bank;” that “Isaac Waters ma'de said gift to your petitioner (in consideration of services she had previously rendered to him and was then rendering to him in his last illness.” She further alleged that Waters died on November 5, 1916, three days after the alleged gift, at which time there was on deposit in said Florida bank to his credit the sum of $1,448.31, and that after the payment by Wade, as administrator, of all debts of the deceased, there remained in his hands the sum of $1,341.30, he having collected all of the money from the bank, as administrator; and that she was entitled to the $1,-341.30 “by virtue of the said gift of said bank-book and said deposit by said decedent.”
The administrator filed an answer admitting all the facts set up in the petition except the allegations that the bank-book and the deposit had been given to the plaintiff by the decedent Waters, and that the money thus belonged to the plaintiff. These allegations were expressly denied, and the answer set up in addition that the decedent had made no disposition of Ms bank-book or of the funds in bank prior to his death, and that the money in the hands of the defendant belonged to the four children of the decedent.
On the trial of the ease there was evidence adduced to substantiate the plaintiff’s contention that the decedent had given to her the bank-book and the money represented thereby, for and
Although there appears to be no direct authority in this State on the question under consideration, the general weight of outside authority is that a pass-book issued by a savings lank rests on a peculiar footing. , Such a book is the record of the customer’s account, and its production authorizes control of the deposit. Like the key of a' locked box, its delivery is treated as a delivery of all it contains. 8 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 1324, 1325; Pierce v. Boston Five Cents Sav. Bank, 129 Mass. 4-25 (37 Am. E. 371), and cases cited. It follows, therefore, that the delivery of the bank-book in this case, accompanied by the declared intention to give, the deposit being in a savings lank, constituted a valid gift of the money on deposit, of which the book was the evidence. Had the deposit been in a bank of issue, discount,, and deposit, the rule would probably be otherwise. See Page v. Lewis, 89 Va. 1 (15 S. E. 389, 18 L. R. A. 170, and eases cited, 37 Am. St. E. 848). What is hereinbefore said is, we think, sufficient to dispose of the contention that “there could be no valid gift of a fund in bank either as a gift inter vivos or a gift causa mortis, by a gift of the bank-book (though designated a savings bank book) unless it was shown that by the rules of the bank or the law of the State where the bank was situated, the possession of the bank-book would be accepted by the bank as ownership of the fund, and unless it was further shown by the rules of the bank or the law of the State where the bank was situated that the production of the bank-book at the bank would be necessary before the bank would transfer the fund or deposit; there being no other evidence in the case than a statement that the bank-book given the plaintiff was a savings bank book of the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville, Florida, savings department, and a receipt from the administrator to the same effect.”
The other contention óf the plaintiff in error, that the evidence demanded a finding in favor of the defendant, is based on the idea that, “the plaintiff having voluntarily requested administration on the estate of Isaac Waters, and having voluntarily surrendered the bank-book to the administrator,—-the defendant in the case,— she was and is now estopped from setting up any claim to the
It being clear that the verdict in favor of the defendant was not demanded by the evidence, the case is controlled by the axiomatic rule stated in the recent case of Park v. Stevens, 21 Ga. App. 180 (94 S. E. 60) as follows: “It may be now considered- as settled that this court will not, under any circumstances, reverse a judgment granting a first new trial, whether the graht be general upon all the grounds of the motion or special upon one or more grounds only, or whether it be upon a ground which involves purely questions of law; unless it is made to appear that no other verdict than the one rendered could possibly have been returned under the law and facts of the case. Euless the ease can be. brought within the exception just stated, it is useless for parties to bring before this court the judgment of a trial judge granting a first new trial.” Civil Code (1910), § 6204.
Judgment affirmed.