Evans v. Quinlan
Evans v. Quinlan
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The pleadings in this cáse consist of a bill and a cross bill. Elizabeth Holman, the appellant, was the plaintiff in the original bill and Julia Quinlan, one of the appellees, was the plaintiff in the cross bill. The controversy grew out of a sale of real estate made by the appellant to the appellee, and the principal dispute was over the amount of the consideration, — the former claiming that the property was sold for $1,400 subject to a mortgage and the latter that it was for $2,400 clear of. all encumbrance. A portion of the consideration was paid in cash, a deed passed and possession of part of the property was taken thereunder, but the appellant re-, tabled possession of the remainder. Subsequently the appellee was informed that the grantor of the appellant
The case was referred to a “commissioner” to take the testimony, but. the court below refused to write an adjudication upon the evidence reported by him, and sent the cause to a jury to decide certain defined issues. When the jury rendered their verdict, which favored the
It is true that the two adjudications contain inconsistent findings concerning the fact that a fraud was practiced by the appellant, yet, since the facts from which the conclusion of culpability was drawn were specifically found, we feel that this inconsistency was probably due to a clerical error.
No useful purpose would be served by the separate consideration of the numerous specifications of error, but it may not be amiss to state that the eleventh assignment does not show a proper request for a finding of fact. The request merely states or summarizes a portion of the testimony upon a point at issue. Under our practice a chancellor may not be called upon to find that certain testimony was presented upon a given issue; it is his duty to find all material disputed facts, but not what the proofs were in regard thereto either one way or the other. Custom and good practice, however, dictate that a chancellor shall incorporate in his adjudication a discussion of the salient points involved in a case, including, when useful, references to the testimony. The learned trial court in the present instance entirely neglected to give us the benefit of any discussion whatever.
Another matter to which we desire to call attention, is the manner in which the testimony was originally taken in the present case. Equity Rule 59 particularly provides that “The office of examiner to take testimony is hereby discontinued...... All testimony in cases in equity shall be taken in the same manner as is now practiced in courts of law, upon rule, commission, letters rogatory or in open court.” This does not au
The assignments are overruled and the decrees are affirmed at the cost of the appellant.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Equity — Equity practice — Court and jury — Verdict of jury— Right to set aside — Requests—Taking of testimony — Adjudication — Discussion of points involved. 1. In the trial of an equity case the testimony should be taken before the court if the case is not sent, to a referee under the rules. It is irregular to appoint a “commissioner” to take testimony, but where the court has rejected the report of such commissioner, has sent the case to a jury to decide certain defined issues, and afteir receiving the verdict of the jury has rejected the same and made findings of fact and conclusions of .law on the testimony taken before the court and jury,- the decree will not be reversed by reason, of such irregularity of proceeding. The verdict of the jury is not conclusive on the court and it may refuse to accept the findings thereof, where it believes the verdict to be against the weight of the evidence. 2. A chancellor may not be called upon by a request to find that certain testimony was presented upon a given issue; it is his duty to find all material disputed facts, but not-what the proofs were in regard thereto. - 3. Custom and good practice dictate that a chancellor shall incorporate in his adjudication a discussion of the salient points involved in the case, including, when useful, references to the testimony.