43 Tenn. 533 | Tenn. | 1866
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The material facts, as presented by this record, are substantially as follows: Abraham Overall died in 1843, after having made and published his last Will and testament, which was afterwards admitted to probate as to personalty, but not as to real estate.
John J. Sneed, Sr., and one H. A. Overall, were appointed and qualified administrators, with the Will annexed, of the estate of said testator, and afterwards filed their petition in the Circuit Court of DeKalb county, praying for a sale of the slaves belonging to said estate. A sale was directed, and accordingly, on the 8 th of January, 1846, said slaves were sold by the Clerk of said Court. At the sale, John J. Sneed, Sr., one of the administrators, and who was also the husband of Nancy C. Sneed, became the purchaser of three of the slaves, to-wit: Caswell, Nelson and Sylvia, at the aggregate price of $1,307.50, for the payment of which he executed and delivered to the Clerk his notes, with security, due at twelve months, to defendants. John J. Sneed, Sr., took said slaves into his possession at the time of his purchase, and has held them until since the filing of the bill in this cause. Nancy C. Sneed died in November, 1848, leaving her said husband, and the following children, surviving her, to-wit: Cynthia, who has intermarried with John W. Botts; Eliza Ann, who has intermarried with William Paty; Harriet, who has intermarried with Yandle Wood; Caroline, Thomas J., Louisa, who has inter
This bill was filed in 1859, by Williams and wife, Lamb and wife, and Botts and wife, against the husband and other children and grand-children of Nancy 0. Sneed, deceased; and alleges, in substance, that said purchase by defendant, John J. Sneed, Sr., was made for the benefit of his wife, Nancy C., and paid for out of the money belonging to her for life, and then to her children, under the Will of her father, Abraham Overall, deceased; and that the money to which she was entitled under that clause of the Will, amounted to $1,437.37; that said slaves having been purchased with the money belonging to the said Nancy C., during her life, and to her children after her death, complainants are entitled to them and their increase, and to an account for hires since the death of the said Nancy C.; and also to an account for the balance of the money, to which the said Nancy 0., was entitled, under said Will, for life, in excess of the price of the slaves. And the prayer of the bill is, that said slaves and their increase, be decreed to the children of the said Nancy C. Sneed, deceased, according to the provision of said Will; that an account of hire be taken, etc., and for such other, further and different relief, as the facts set forth in the bill may justify. Botts and wife having refused further to prose
Williams and wife, by leave of the Court, filed an amended bill, making Overall the co-administrator with Sneed, a party defendant. John J. Sneed, in his answer, denies that the children of Nancy C. Sneed have acquired, under the Will, any right to the bequest, and insists, that, by virtue of his marital rights, he became entitled to the property. And, it is now insisted in argument, that, under the operation of the rule in Shelly’s case, the remainder to the children of Mrs. Sneed, after her death, was inoperative and void, and that Mrs. Sneed took the absolute estate, and that the marital rights of the husband having attached, he is entitled to the bequest, to the exclusion of his wife’s children.
If these propositions can be maintained, the rights of the parties are settled, and, without any further investigation, complainant’s bill must be dismissed. The rule before referred to, and which has been so often stated, is this: “Where any person takes an estate of freehold, legally or equitably under a deed, Will or other writing, and in the same instrument there is a limitation by way of remainder, either with or without the interposition of an intervening estate, of a right of the same legal or equitable character, to his heir ['or heirs of his body, as a class of persons, to take, in succession, the limitation to the heirs entitles the ancestor to the whole estate;” and in Roper on Legacies, p. 393, it is stated,
The word “ children” is strictly a word of purchase, and must be so construed, unless it clearly appears that it was intended to be a word of limitation; and, as a general rule, such intention must be gathered from the instrument itself. There is nothing whatever, in this Will, from which we can draw even an inference that the testator intended the word “ children” to be construed, or to take effect, as a word of limitation; and if we look outside of the instrument, and to the fact that his daughter, Nancy C. Sneed, had several children living at the date of the Will, who are declared to be the objects
We are, therefore, of the opinion, the bequest does not fall within the extent and operation of the rule in Shelly’s case, or the principle before referred to, as laid down in Roper’s Treatise on the Law of Legacies.
It appears that the note, given by Sneed for the purchase money of the slave, was delivered over by the clerk to the administrators. as so much money, and is still in the hands of defendant Overall, and has never been, in fact, paid. No final settlement has ever been made between Sneed and his co-administrator, of their administration; but it was understood between them that it was to be received by Sneed in payment of so much of the fund of $1,487.37, arising from the sale of slaves, and to which Mrs. Sneed was entitled under the Will of her father; and although it was never in fact delivered up by the clerk to Overall, and retained by him with that understanding; and all parties, we have no doubt, regard the matter as virtually settled in that way; and so we must regard it.
It follows, then, the slaves having been purchased with the funds belonging to Mrs. Sneed’s children at her death, they would be entitled to them with their increase; also to an account for hire from the death of Mrs. Sneed.
This brings us to the consideration of another question, and one which presents the greatest difficulty in the case. It appears, that, after the breaking out of the late civil war, and in 1863, Mrs. Paty, Mrs. Botts,
So far as we can see, the terms of the agreement were strictly and in good faith complied with, on the part of the contracting parties; and the question now is, what effect is to be given to an agreement and settle
They certainly had the power to receive the slaves in litigation, and, upon their delivery to either of the parties entitled to such delivery and possession, based upon the rights of all the parties, discharged the father from further liability as to them, and inured to the benefit of all the parties in interest.
This was a family settlement, concerning property and rights in litigation. Such settlements, when made without fraud, are favored by the law, and should be encouraged and upheld by the Courts, when it can be done without a clear violation of some established rule of law.
As a general rule, a married woman is incapable of contracting, or binding herself or her husband. There was a litigation pending between the father and the children, growing out of difference of opinion as to their rights under the Will. In consequence of the war, the Courts were suspended in some localities. The children, by force, took the property into their own possession, after which the compromise was entered into, which, the witness says, was intended as a final settlement of all matters in controversy between them — not only the slaves in controversy, but also all the household furniture which he had acquired by his wife; and, in accordance with this compromise, the father did deliver to his daughters, the furniture aforesaid, and the same was received by them; and, from all we can see in this record, the same remains in their posses
We are of opinion that courts of equity, at least, should be slow to disturb the sanctity and validity of such contracts, made under such circumstances; and, in this case, we are constrained to hold, that the husbands, having failed in any manner to disaffirm the
Complainants, Lamb and wife, neither of whom were parties to the compromise, are entitled, under this bill, to an account for the hire' of the slaves, from the death of bfancy C. Sneed, until possession thereof was surrendered to Mrs. Paty and others, in 1863, with interest; also, to an account for the excess which came into the hands of the husband, John J. Sneed, under said clause in the Will of Abraham Overall, over and above the prices paid for said slaves, with interest; and are entitled to a decree against John J. Sneed for one distributive share of the same.
By their bill they have elected to take the property purchased with the fund to which they were entitled, after the death of their mother, in lieu of the fund. This they had a clear right to do, and the bill is drawn alone with this view, except as to the excess above mentioned; and notwithstanding the slaves, to recover which this suit was brought, have been emancipated and have ceased to be property, under the pleadings in this cause, the complainants are not entitled to abandon their election, and ask a decree for the fund with which the slaves were purchased. Paty and wife, Wood and wife, Botts and wife, Williams and wife, and Caroline Sneed, are bound by the compromise, and are, therefore, not entitled to any decree.
As Thos. J. Sneed, Sr., is only before the Court as a defendant, and not actively seeking the aid of the Court, and inasmuch as it does not clearly appear
We are of the opinion, upon the case as presented by this record, that the grand-children of Mrs. Sneed are not entitled to recover, and that the interest of their ancestors, as “children” of Mrs. Sneed, in the fund, passed to the personal representatives of the children who had died; but, as they are defendants, no decree will be pronounced in this cause to their prejudice in any other suit.
A decree will be entered in conformity with this opinion, and the cause remanded, for the purpose of taking the accounts as directed.