Corwine v. Mace
Corwine v. Mace
Opinion of the Court
This is a civil action for the partition of certain premises held by the parties, James D. Corwine, Peter B. Hays and Jacob Mace, as devisees under the will of Ilesiah Davis. The principal question arises on the construction of the will. The eighth item of the original will, executed May 19, 1863, was as follows:
“ Item 8th. I give and bequeath unto Jacob Mace, of the county of Ross, state of Ohio, and unto his heirs and assigns forever, the equal undivided one-half of all those pieces of land purchased by me of Wesley Claypool, situated in Ross county, state of Ohio, containing about eleven hundred and seventy-four acres, one rood and twenty-nine poles, which is particularly described in the deed made by Wesley Claypool and wife to me, bearing date April 29th, a.d. 1856. And I hereby devise and bequeath unto James W. Hays, Peter B. Iiays, and John Hays the remaining one equal undivided half thereof, to be shared equally between them.”
Afterwards, on the 8th of June, 1871, the testatrix executed a codicil, the first item of which reads as follows :
“ Item 1st. I desire and do hereby change and modify item 8th in said will so as'to read as follows : I give and bequeath unto Jacob Mace, of the county of Ross, state of Ohio, his heirs and assigns forever, the equal one-half of all those pieces
The title of the parties to this suit is held under this item of the codicil, and the controversy is in relation to the nature and extent of the estates of the respective devisees. The plaintiffs, Corwine and Hays, claim that the estate devised is held by the devisees as tenants in common, that is to say, that defendant Mace owns an undivided half, and each of the plaintiffs an undivided fourth part of the whole tract, subject, however, under the direction of the will, to be apportioned according to value, so that the interest of the plaintiffs shall be aparted to them on the upper side, and that of the defendant on the lower side of the tract. While the defendant contends that the lower half of the tract, according to acreage, was devised to him in severalty, and that plaintiffs took, under the will, the upper half, as tenants in common.
The contention of the defendant is based chiefly on the last clause in the first item of the codicil, and on the fact that in describing the interests devised the testatrix omitted the qualifying word, “ undivided,” which had been used in the original 8th item of the will. That there is much plausibility in the claim thus made cannot be denied; but upon a careful consideration of the language used by the testatrix in the 1st •item of the codicil, a majority of the court are of opinion that a tenancy in common between the devisees was created, although the testatrix contemplated a separation of the interests, and directed the location of the respective interests when partition should be made.
The last clause in the item does not give to Hays and Cor-
An objection is made to the jurisdiction of the appellate court. We are of opinion that the nature of the title and the relief sought bring the case clearly within the cognizance of a court of equity, and that, thérefore, an appeal. from the com
Decree for plaintiffs.
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