Fellows v. Smith
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, by the administrator with the will annexed of the estate of J. M. Smith, for the conversion by the defendant, the widow of Smith, of certain personal property.
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Tort, by the administrator with the will annexed of the estate of J. M. Smith, for the conversion by the defendant, the widow of Smith, of certain personal property. Writ dated August 25, 1877. The case was referred to an auditor, who reported the following facts : Two days before the marriage of the defendant and Smith, which occurred on January 25, 1872, they made an ante-nuptial agreement, by the terms of which each was to retain the ownership of his or her property, real and personal, free from the control of the other, and she was to have no right of dower or homestead in his real…
1Opinion of the CourtSoule, J.
As the plaintiff took only the title to the chattels in question which his testator had, the admissions of the testator that they were not his were admissible evidence for the defendant. On the other hand, statements of the testator that he was the owner of the chattels were inadmissible as evidence for the plaintiff, on the familiar principle that one cannot introduce his own declarations in his favor as evidence of title in himself to either real or personal estate.
The plaintiff having been appointed and qualified as administrator more than two years before the trial of the action, and it…
2Cases cited3 opinions
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