Jennings v. Pendergast
Court of Appeals of Maryland
Appeal from the Orphans Court of Baltimore city. Caveat by the appellant against probate of the will of Catharine Jennings, upon the ground that from extreme age and infirmity of body, she became insane and non compos mentis, and whilst, in this condition, the appellee, her son-in-law, procured the execution of the will by her. The will is dated the 7th of January 1853, the testatrix being at that time ninety-six years of age.
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Appeal from the Orphans Court of Baltimore city. Caveat by the appellant against probate of the will of Catharine Jennings, upon the ground that from extreme age and infirmity of body, she became insane and non compos mentis, and whilst, in this condition, the appellee, her son-in-law, procured the execution of the will by her. The will is dated the 7th of January 1853, the testatrix being at that time ninety-six years of age. By it she devised all her property of every description to the appellee, and appointed him sole executor. She died on the 4lh of January 1855, leaving the appellant,…
1Opinion of the CourtLe Grand, C. J.
We confess we have had great difficulty in coming to a conclusion in this case. The testatrix was ninety-six years of age at the time of the execution of the will in contest. This circumstance standing alone is of great weight, and although not,,per se, conclusive, yet goes far, when the common history of humanity is considered, to induce the belief that the party attaining so advanced an age must be much weakened in mind, if not reduced to that state which the books designate as fatuity. In the case before us the deductions to be made from the fact of extreme old age are strengthened by the…
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