Cooley v. Houston
Cooley v. Houston
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This case has been in the court below and in this court since 1908, and we are all of the opinion that the litigation should not be prolonged by remanding it for further proceedings below. It may be conceded that the decree could be reversed for technical reasons, but a thorough examination of the whole record convinces us that justice has been done between the parties and that if the technical rules of procedure in such cases were enforced and the case was reheard by the learned chancellor the conclusion reached by him and now under review here would not be materially changed. We are, therefore, not disposed to disturb the decree.
When the case was here before, 229 Pa. 495, we gave it most careful consideration, and determined all the questions raised on the record. We agreed with the chancellor in holding that under the pleadings the plaintiffs were entitled to a partition of the premises, but were of opinion that he committed error in holding they
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- Equity — Beal property — Partition—Wills—Intestacy—Election —Disappointed party — Compensation. A testator owning but an undivided half of a tract of land devised the whole tract in unequal shares to his children, who were entitled to the other half under the intestate laws as heirs of testator’s co-owner. Certain of the children elected to take under the intestate laws their share in the half which testator did not own, whereby the others received less than they would have received had such children elected to take under the will. Those who elected to take under the intestate laws sued in equity for a partition of the whole property, a part of which was in the possession of the child who had not elected to take under the intestate laws, and who was made defendant. The lower court decided that to the extent that such child was injured by the plaintiff’s election to take against the will he was entitled to compensation out of the estate devised to them; and found, upon evidence, that it would take more than all of the land devised to plaintiffs, to compensate such child for his disappointment and that he could not be compensated if partition were decreed. Held, the court did not err in dismissing the bill.