Jones v. Bennett
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Petition, by the executor of Sarah J. Clark’s will for advice as to the construction of the residuary clause, which is as follows: “the balance of my estate ... I direct to be divided equally among the heirs of my late husband, Hiram M. Clark.” The defendants are Hiram’s grandson and his nephews and nieces.
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Petition, by the executor of Sarah J. Clark’s will for advice as to the construction of the residuary clause, which is as follows: “the balance of my estate ... I direct to be divided equally among the heirs of my late husband, Hiram M. Clark.” The defendants are Hiram’s grandson and his nephews and nieces. The nephews and nieces introduced Mrs. Clark’s statements to the scrivener and others to show who were to have the property passing by this clause, and the court considered the evidence on the issue of Mrs. Clark’s habit and found that she was not in the habit of speaking of Hiram’s…
1Opinion of the CourtYoung, J.
When a person is in the habit of doing a thing in a particular way it is permissible to show that fact, provided it is the best evidence readily obtainable, as tending to prove how he did it on a given occasion; for experience teaches it is more probable than otherwise that a person acted on the occasion in question in the way he was accustomed to act. In other words, habit is an evidentiary fact and whether it exists is a question of fact to be decided like all such questions by the weight of competent evidence. The question, therefore, and the only question raised by the nephews’ and…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Lockbihler v. YoungCalifornia Supreme Court · 1899
- Willard v. DarrahSupreme Court of Missouri · 1902
- DenfieldMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
- Suman v. HarveyCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1911
- Eastman v. Provident Mutual Relief Ass'nSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1883
3Cited by14 opinions
- In Re Estate of SayewichSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1980
- In Re Estate of ChaseSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1931
- Fuentes Suárez v. Federal Land Bank of BaltimoreSupreme Court of Puerto Rico · 1944
- Holcomb v. NewtonCourt of Appeals of Texas · 1950
- Illinois State Trust Co. v. ConatyDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island · 1952
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