Pearce v. Venning
Pearce v. Venning
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
By the will of Mrs. Ann Venning, she devised and bequeathed to her nephew, the defendant, the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars, and her house and 'lot st Mount Pleasant, and certain slaves (by name), in trust to receive and pay over to testatrix’s son, William Pearce, during his natural life, the rents and profits, income and interest thereof, and to take his receipt therefor, and upon his death in trust for his children, &c., as therein jorovided, and it was declared to be lawful for the trustee, “with the consent in writing of the said William Pearce, to dispose of the whole or any part of the said real ■estate and other property hereinbefore mentioned and to ■substitute other property, real or personal, in the stead thereof,” and so on, from time to time, to sell the said property and to substitute other property in lieu thereof. The pecuniary legacy was paid in the bond of William Lucas for two thousand five hundred dollars, and of Theodore D. Wagner for five thousand dollars. No objection is made that the trustee, instead of requiring payment in cash from the executors of Mrs. Venning, as he had the right :to do, received payment in these bonds. Wagner’s bond 'being past due, was paid in 1859, and the money invested in a bond of P. P. Bonneau, secured by a mortgage of the same plantation. In January, 1863, Bonneau’s bond being past due, was paid to the trustee, and the money invested in eight per cent, bonds of the Confederate States of America at par. No charge of negligence, or want of caution or of judgment in this transaction is alleged
It was, therefore, declared that any such change should only be lawful, when made with the consent, in writing, of her son, William Pearce. But none of these reasons were applicable to the pecuniary legacy, the management of which was left with the trustee. Such being the construction of the will adopted by this Court, it is ordered and decreed that the appeal be dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.