Sears v. Dillingham
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an appeal from a decree of the judge of probate of the county of Barnstable, approving and allowing the last will and testament of Thomas Snow, late of Harwich, in said county, deceased. The reason assigned for the appeal, pursuant to the statute,(1) was, that the said testator was not, at the time of executing -the supposed will, of sound and disposing mind and memory.
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This was an appeal from a decree of the judge of probate of the county of Barnstable, approving and allowing the last will and testament of Thomas Snow, late of Harwich, in said county, deceased. The reason assigned for the appeal, pursuant to the statute,(1) was, that the said testator was not, at the time of executing -the supposed will, of sound and disposing mind and memory. All the requisites of the law having been complied with on the.part of the appellant, and the appeal having been entered October term, 1813, at Barnstable, an issue was directed by the Court and joined by the parties,…
1Opinion of the CourtParker, C. J.
The first question to be decided in this case is, *314whether Dillingham was rightly rejected as a witness at the trial. For, if he ought then to have been admitted, it is obvious that the other objection would be superseded.
The Court which made that decision was competent to make it definitively ; but, as there was no opportunity to consult [*360] books at the place where the trial was bad, it is proper * to reexamine the question, so far as may be necessary to settle the point now immediately before us. And we are satisfied, that the decision was right in principle, as well as conformable to the…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Chase v. LincolnMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
- Nason v. ThatcherMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1811
3Cited by11 opinions
- Comstock v. Hadlyme Ecclesiastical SocietySupreme Court of Connecticut · 1830
- Fox v. WhitneyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1819
- Greene v. DennisSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1826
- Jenkinson v. BrooksMichigan Supreme Court · 1898
- Rockland Trust Co. v. BixbyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1924
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