Douglass v. Douglass
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Hearing on an appeal by the complainant from a decree in a suit for the construction of a will. The Court in its opinion stated the case as follows: This is an appeal from a decree construing the will of the late Frederick Douglass, who died in the District of Columbia, February 20, 1895. The will was attested by two subscribing witnesses, and was duly probated in the Orphans’ Court.
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Hearing on an appeal by the complainant from a decree in a suit for the construction of a will. The Court in its opinion stated the case as follows: This is an appeal from a decree construing the will of the late Frederick Douglass, who died in the District of Columbia, February 20, 1895. The will was attested by two subscribing witnesses, and was duly probated in the Orphans’ Court. It reads as follows: “I, Frederick Douglass, of'Anacostia, District of Columbia, United States of America, being of sound disposing mind and memory, do make, publish and declare this to be my last will and…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Shepard
A specific legacy is the bequest of a particular thing, or a specified part of a testator’s property, distinguished from all others of the same kind. 1 Roper, Legacies, 191; 13 Am. & Brig. Encyc. L. 10.
If the language of the will indicates, not the gift of the specified article, of part of the estate, to the extent or value *27stated, but its designation only, as a certain interest or fund from which the bequest of money, or amount of value, shall be primarily paid or satisfied, it becomes a demonstrative legacy.
The question to be determined is, under which of the foregoing definitions the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Metcalf v. First Parish in FraminghamMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
- Dryden v. OwingsCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1878
- Kunkel v. MacgillCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1881
3Cited by11 opinions
- Wyman v. RoesnerDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals · 1981
- Buck v. PetersonCalifornia Supreme Court · 1948
- Fidelity National Bank & Trust Co. v. HoveySupreme Court of Missouri · 1928
- Dean v. Tusculum CollegeCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1952
- Vogel v. SaundersCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1937
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