In re Payn
New York Supreme Court
This was an application ex parte on the part of Samuel Lewis and Martha, his wife, residents of Mechanicsville, Saratoga county, for the appointment of a guardian or special committee of Hugh Payn, on the ground that he is a person of unsound mind, and incapable of managing his affairs.
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This was an application ex parte on the part of Samuel Lewis and Martha, his wife, residents of Mechanicsville, Saratoga county, for the appointment of a guardian or special committee of Hugh Payn, on the ground that he is a person of unsound mind, and incapable of managing his affairs. The petition sets forth that the said Hugh Payn is aged 48 years, and has been from his infancy, from impaired body and unsound mind, wholly incapable of providing for himself, or conducting or managing his property, which consists only of the third part of a farm situate in Fort Miller, in the county of…
1Opinion of the Court
C. L. Allen, Justice.
The whole question presented by this petition is, whether the court has jurisdiction to order the sale of land of an alleged lunatic, without a preliminary inquisition as to -his lunacy, and on the petition alone of his immediate relatives anjl friends.
*221I have carefully examined all the leading cases on this subject, both in the English courts and our own, and I cannot find a single instance in which an order of the kind prayed for has ever been granted.
By the old common law there was a writ termed “ de idiota inquirendo,” to inquire whether a man be an idiot or not, which…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- In re TracyNew York Court of Chancery · 1829
- Hone v. Van SchaickNew York Court of Chancery · 1838
- In re MorganNew York Court of Chancery · 1838
- In re PetitNew York Court of Chancery · 1830
- In re ChristieNew York Court of Chancery · 1835
3Cited by3 opinions
- East End Trust Co. v. OttenNew York Court of Appeals · 1931
- In re GouldAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1939
- In re BennettNew York Supreme Court · 1889