Brown v. Brown
Brown v. Brown
Opinion of the Court
Robert S. Brown died in the year 1891 leaving a considerable estate, consisting of real property, located in the county of Jackson, which by his will he provided should be diVided among his three sons, each taking a life estate in the land assigned to him, with remainder to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten living at the time of his death; and should there be no such lawfully begotten heirs, then to the other two sons for their respective lives, with remainder to the heirs of their bodies. 'The defendant E. W. Brown, under the provisions of the will, received a tract of land containing several hundred acres. The plaintiff C. L. Brown was assigned a like tract of land adjoining that of E. W. Brown, and the other brother, W-. J. Brown, took the remainder of the land. This controversy arises out of an attempt of E. W. Brown and his children to dispose of part of the land devised to them.
The bill avers that E. W. Brown has nine living children, all of whom are adults, and most of whom are married and have children. It appears that sometime since E. W. Brown, together with his children, secured a loan of $12,000.00 from the Virginian Joint Stock Land Bank, and executed a mortgage to secure the payment of the same. This debt was not paid and suit was brought in'the circuit court of Jackson county for the purpose of subjecting the said real estate to sale in satisfaction of said lien. Pending this suit E. W. Brown and his children entered into a contract with the Bowman Land Company by which that company agreed to lay off in town lots a small part of the said land consisting of 25 to 40 acres, and sell the same for a sufficient sum of money to pay off all the liens, the said E. W. Brown and his children agreeing to convey the same to the purchasers by deeds with covenants of general warranty. The Bowman Land Company, acting under this contract, went upon the land and laid off the tract proposed to be sold into lots, streets and alleys, and advertised a sale of the same to be made at public auction. The plaintiff then filed his bill in the circuit court of Jackson county averring that he is a brother of the said
It is first insisted that we should not entertain the appeal for the reason that E. W. Brown does not appear to have such an interest in the subject matter as warrants him in prosecuting the same. It appears that under the will of his father E. W. Brown took a life estate in the tract of land, a small part of which is involved here, with the remainder to the heirs of his body surviving him; and, in case he died without having surviving heirs of his body, then the same should go to the plaintiff C. L. Brown and his brother W. J. Brown for their lives, with remainder to the heirs of their bodies surviving them. Sometime since the defendant E. W. Brown made a deed attempting to convey his life estate to his wife, and it is contended that because of this deed he has no such interest remaining as justifies him in prosecuting this appeal. It is quite well settled in this jurisdiction that by the deed conveying his estate direct to his wife he parted with his entire equitable interest in the property, but the legal title thereto still remains in him. He is a trustee holding that legal title for the benefit of the owners of the equita
It is further insisted that tbe motion to dissolve tbe injunctions was properly overruled, for the reason that none of the defendants answered tbe bill except E. W. Brown, and that the court should not dissolve tbe temporary injunctions upon tbe answer of one joint defendant. This might be entirely true if the motion to dissolve was based upon the denial of tbe allegations of tbe bills. Tbe motion here, however, is based upon tbe insufficiency of tbe bills for tbe granting of the injunctions. If it should turn out that tbe injunctions should not bave been granted in tbe first instance, they should be dissolved upon tbe motion of any proper party to the suit.
And this brings us to a consideration of tbe substantial question involved, and that is, whether from tbe bill it' appears that tbe plaintiff C. L. Brown is likely to suffer any injury from tbe acts complained of, such as will justify injunctions against tbe defendants at bis instance. It is quite true that a court of equity will in some instances enjoin tbe commission of waste at the suit ‘of a contingent remainder-man, but it must be borne in mind that courts of equity will not make use of tbe extraordinary writ of injunction to preserve mere doubtful or possible rights. There must be some reasonable apprehension of loss to the plaintiff before tbe
We will, therefore, dissolve the injunctions and remand
Reversed; Injunction dissolved; Remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- C. L. Brown v. E. W. Browns.
- Status
- Published