Beazley v. Kendrick
Beazley v. Kendrick
Opinion of the Court
This suit is brought by the ordinary, for the use of two of the children of John M. Brown, against Kendrick, administrator, and his surety on the administration bond. The question is, whether a certain tract of land belonged at his death to the intestate or to his wife. If to the estate, he has made breach of the bond; if not, he has not, and there can be no recovery. The sum of the facts is, briefly, that Brown gave some money to be invested for his wife and children. He was in prison, and instructed Garrett, his step-son, to collect from one West about a thousand dollars that he owed him, and to invest it for his family. Garrett collected the money and bought the land in controversy, taking bond for titles in his own name, giving the vendor a mortgage .on the land for $500.00, balance of purchase price; holding the bond for titles for Brown’s family. Brown, on his release from, prison, rati
Was his bond broken ? The jury found that it was not; the court approved the finding by refusing a new trial, and error is assigned on various grounds, but the real issue is as stated above. We do not think that, upon these facts, the administrator would be bound to risk a lawsuit touching this property. When he investigated and ascertained all about it, and could find no title at all in his intestate, except the possession of the land, which was also that of his wife and family; and when he ascertained, moreover, that his intestate, through his agent, Garrett, had made the investment for the wife and children, and had done so by the agent, in consequence of his inability, being a prisoner, and when he was free had ratified, by parol, the course that the agent pursued throughout; and moreover, that the mortgage had been paid up by Mrs. Brown, and that the title was put in her by the vendor to Garrett, Brown’s agent, we do not see how an administrator could well do otherwise than acquiesce in the matter and leave it to the heirs at law, if they saw fit to contest so strong an apparent title as Mrs. Brown held.
Counsel for plaintiff in error insisted that it would be to create an express trust by parol evidence to set up the action of this agent in the collection and investment of this money by direction of Brown. It appears to us to be no more an express trust than any action of the agent by instructions of the principal would be. Every direction to collect and invest involves trust in one sense of the word, but an express trust is created and manifested by agreement of the parties, and this agreement must be in writing. Code, §§2309, 2310. This is hardly an agreement of parties, but rather merely an instruction to an
If Mrs. Brown took the entire title to herself, the remedy is against her by the other subjects of Brown’s bounty and instructions to Garrett, for she will hold that legal title-in trust for them as well as herself. If the heirs general of Brown, or any of them, wish to test the question further, and insist on their right to the land from the facts here, or additional facts that they may ascertain, let them sue Mrs. Brown, or whomsoever is in possession and claiming title at law or in equity for it, and if they shall show title in their ancestor, they may recover, unless the conduct of that ancestor and these views of the law of this case “hall have the effect to deter them from such an effort. On this
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Beazley, ordinary, for use v. Kendrick, administrator
- Status
- Published