McKenzie v. Sifford
McKenzie v. Sifford
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The complaint in this action (omitting the formal and evidentiary statements therein set forth) alleges: 3. “That on the 8th day of November, 1877, Jane C. McKenzie, the plaintiff in this action, intermarried with Joseph Stanhope McKenzie, the testator of the defendants, and from the date of the said marriage until the 13th day of June, A. D. 1891, the said Joseph S. McKenzie was the agent of the plaintiff, and as such agent was put in possession of her entire separate estate, and intrusted with the management thereof, which said separate estate consisted of 200 acres of land, situated in the county and State aforesaid, from which the said testator, in his lifetime, received the rents, for at least seven years immediately preceding the 1st day of January, 1891, of the aggregate net value of $730, and also the following sums of money that likewise came into the hands of the said testator, as agent of the plaintiff, namely: March 1st, 1878 (from estateof AndyTate), $200; February 15, 1883 (guardian account), $1,595.78; December 7, 1887 (Moore money), $166. 4. That on the I3th day of June, A. D. 1891 (when the testator of defendants, and his wife, the plaintiff in this action, executed the supposed indenture of settlement and separation, which, as to the plaintiff, has been solemnly adjudged to have been null and void and of none effect, and was ordered to be delivered up and cancelled in the case hereinafter named, as will more fully appear by reference being had to a copy of said indenture * * *), the testator of the defendants was indebted to the plaintiffs in the sum of $730, on account of rents received by him as agent of the plaintiff from her 200 acres of land, for seven years immediately preceding the 1st of January, 1891, and in the further sum of $3,113, on account of her money and interest, making the aggregate amount of the plaintiff’s separate estate in the hands of her aforesaid agent, the testator of the defendants, on the aforesaid 13th day of June, 1891, when the indenture that has since been cancelled by the order of the Court was executed, the sum of $3,843, no part of which was accounted for or
The defendants, in their answer, denied certain allegations of the complaint, amongst which was the allegation that the matters herein have been adjudged against them by the decree of his Honor, Judge Benet, to which reference was made in the complaint. They also set up as a defense that there had been accord and satisfaction and full settlement of the matters in controversy.
The plaintiff introduced in evidence the judgment roll in the case decided by his Honor, Judge Benet, in which the said indenture was declared null and void. She also introduced in evidence the said indenture, and another instrument of writing called the covenant, which will hereinafter be set out. Mrs. Jane C. McKenzie, the plaintiff, testified, inter alia, as follows: “She was the wife of Joseph S. McKenzie. We were married the 8th day of November, 1877. Mr. McKenzie died the 2d day of June, 1894. On the 13th day of June, 1891, Mr. McKenzie and witness were husband and wife. Mr. McKenzie was guardian of witness. On the 13th day of June, 1891, when the indenture and covenant were executed, Mr. McKenzie had in his possession the following moneys: Guardianship account, $1,595.78; money received from Moore, $166; from the estate of Andy Tate, $200. These sums represented the principal money of wit-ness in the hands of Joseph S. McKenzie. Mr. McKenzie became guardian of witness just after they were married. She thinks, in the spring of-1878. Mr. McKenzie had these moneys in charge from 1878 until June 13th, 1891. He also had the plantation of witness in charge for seven years, from 1884 until 1891. The annual rent of the plantation was 1,500 pounds of lint cotton. Witness knows of • her own knowledge that the rent cotton was received by her husband. Cotton ranged in price during that time from 7, 8, and 9 cents, witness thinks. She received for executing
The case was tried before his Honor, Judge Buchanan, who decreed in favor of the plaintiff’s claim. The defendants appealed upon several exceptions, and the plaintiff gave notice that she would ask this Court to sustain the decree on grounds additional to those upon which the Circuit Judge based his decree.
In order to determine if there was error on the part of the Circuit Judge in refusing to sustain the defense of accord and satisfaction and full settlement, it will be necessary to refer to the decree of his Honor, Judge Benet. Upon the trial of that case the defendants introduced in evidence the said indenture, and the plaintiff contended “that the alleged indenture, as to her, was absolutely without consideration, and nudum pactum." Judge Benet says: “The next issue raised by the answer of the defendants is: By the indenture of settlement and separation of 13th June, 1891, is the plaintiff, Jane C. McKenzie, estopped from making any further claim against her husband’s estate? The indenture is as follows: ‘South Carolina, York County. This indenture by and between Joseph S. McKenzie, husband, and Jane C. McKenzie, huswife, witnesseth: That whereas the said JaneC. McKenzie,
The instrument of writing called the covenant, is as follows: “State of South Carolina, County of York. In consideration that my husband, Joseph S. McKenzie (from whom I am living separate and apart), has paid over to me all moneys, and returned to me all the property belonging to me at the time of our marriage, and since acquired by me, and has, in addition thereto, paid me a sum of money approximating $1,000. Be it known that I, Jane C. McKenzie, in consideration of the premises aforesaid, and as inducement to the settlement before recited, do promise and agree to release unto my said husband, his heirs or assigns, all my right and claim of dower, to and in any and all lands now or heretofore owned by him, and also to and in any and all lands or real estate that may hereafter come to him by purchase or devise. And by these presents I do hereby solemnly adopt and confirm my said promise and undertaking, and do presently release and acquit to the said Joseph S. McKenzie, his heirs, and assigns, all my right and claim of dower to, and in all lands held by him, or that he may thereafter acquire. And I do further bind myself to execute formal renunciation of dower before any officer qualified to take same, in and upon any and all deeds of conveyance, or in and upon any other paper, as to any or all real estate held
The appellants also contend that the decree of Judge Benet was not res judicata as to the amount due the plaintiff by her husband from her separate estate. Even if such
The respondent admitted in open court that the Circuit Judge had inadvertently allowed interest from the 13th day of February, 1891, instead of from the 13th of June, 1891, and that a remittitur would be entered upon the judgment to the amount of the interest erroneously allowed. It will, therefore, be unnecessary for this Court to modify the decree in that respect. These views practically disprove of all the exceptions.
It is the judgment of this Court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.
This is a motion submitted on behalf of appellants to correct the judgment rendered by this Court in the above stated case, and filed on the 6th day of April, 1898. The correction proposed is “to modify the judgment below (instead of affirming it), by reducing the amount found in the Circuit decree on the 20th day of May, 1897, from $1,200.95, to $1,186.29, and thus to make the judgment conform to the opinion of the Court and the concession made in open Court, to wit: that so much of the fourth exception was well taken as charged that the Circuit Judge erred in allowing interest from February 13th, 1891, instead of June 13th, 1891.” The supposed necessity
Reference
- Full Case Name
- McKENZIE v. SIFFORD
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Decree in McKenzie v. Sieeord, 48 S. C., 462, Construed. — The proper construction of the Circuit decree in McKenzie v. Sifford, 48 S. C., 462, is that sums received by wife from her husband are part payments on her separate estate in his hands, and could not operate as a release of her interest in his estate, nor of accord and satisfaction of full amount due from her separate estate. 2. Evidence — Fraudulent Instrument. — An instrument once adjudged null and void cannot have the effect of sustaining an allegation in another suit. 3. Accounting — Appeal.—The allowance of an improper credit is not ground for reversal at instance of benefited party.