Beatty v. Smith
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Debt 137I. 14s. 63d. sur recognizance, in the Orphans’Court. Plea, payment with leave to give the special matter in evidence. The facts are these : Samuel Smith, father of the plaintiff Nancy, and of the defendant, died in 1763, intestate, seised of a tract of 408-f acres of land, having a widow, four daughters and one son, his youngest child, then aged six years.
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Debt 137I. 14s. 63d. sur recognizance, in the Orphans’Court. Plea, payment with leave to give the special matter in evidence. The facts are these : Samuel Smith, father of the plaintiff Nancy, and of the defendant, died in 1763, intestate, seised of a tract of 408-f acres of land, having a widow, four daughters and one son, his youngest child, then aged six years. Nancy, the plaintiff, was the youngest daughter, and then aged about seven years'. The family were brought up together, and lived on the lands until the daughters were severally married. Nancy married in 1778. The defendant occupied…
1Opinion of the Court
Per Cur.
Unquestionably the recognizance in the Orphan’s Court is in the nature of a judgment. The interests of minors as well as persons of full age, would be strangely affected, if a doctrine should prevail, that while they were divested of their interests in the land, their distributive shares of the valuation should not he placed on a secure and permanent footing. If they are liable to have their dividends reduced, by circumstances or considerations which have occurred anterior to the recognizance solemnlygiven, they will be but badly protected by the law. Why was not this defence set up…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Lessee of Glancey v. JonesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1805
- Shoemaker v. BallardSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1850