Comfort v. Mather
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to the Common Pleas of Bucks county. This was an amicable action in debt by Samuel Comfort, guardian of the minor children of Sidney Eastburn, deceased, against Benjamin Mather and William Mitchell, executors of Mary Stack-house, deceased; and was instituted to test the right to a certain legacy under the will of Mary Stackhouse.
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ERROR to the Common Pleas of Bucks county. This was an amicable action in debt by Samuel Comfort, guardian of the minor children of Sidney Eastburn, deceased, against Benjamin Mather and William Mitchell, executors of Mary Stack-house, deceased; and was instituted to test the right to a certain legacy under the will of Mary Stackhouse. The following facts were submitted for the opinion of the court below, in the nature of a case stated, viz.: Mary Stackhouse by her last will and testament in writing, dated and published on the 21st day of July 1836, bequeathed, inter alia, as follows: “ I…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Sergeant, J.
The cases cited by the counsel for the defendants in error are too strong to be got over. They show that the point has been repeatedly and uniformly decided, in conformity with a principle of law, which is said to have been borrowed from the civil law, that every legacy implies a condition that the legatee shall survive the testator, and that where the legatee dies in the lifetime of the testator the legacy lapses. The legislature of this state has, by the Act of 19th of March 1810, corrected the rule where the legacy is in favour of a…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Lessee of Sword v. AdamsSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1800
3Cited by16 opinions
- McFerren EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1950
- Dildine v. DildineNew Jersey Court of Chancery · 1880
- Slater EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1954
- Flintham v. BradfordSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1848
- Hand v. MarcyNew Jersey Court of Chancery · 1877
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