Williams v. Neff
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
1 Both these cases depended upon the construction of the will of John R. Neff, and were considered and decided together. The first cáse was certified from Nisi Prius, and was an action of ejectment, commenced March 8th 1865, by Mary Jane Williams against William P. Neff, Charles Neff and John R. Neff, Jr., for the one-sixteenth part of a messuage, &c., in Philadelphia, in which' a case was stated.
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1 Both these cases depended upon the construction of the will of John R. Neff, and were considered and decided together. The first cáse was certified from Nisi Prius, and was an action of ejectment, commenced March 8th 1865, by Mary Jane Williams against William P. Neff, Charles Neff and John R. Neff, Jr., for the one-sixteenth part of a messuage, &c., in Philadelphia, in which' a case was stated. John R. Neff died in July 1863, seised of the messuage, &c., leaving three sons, the defendants, and his granddaughter, the plaintiff. By his will, dated April 22d 1850, after- directing payment of…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, June 25th 1866, by
Read, J.
The former of these cases has reference to the real estate of the testator, John R. Neff, and the latter to the distribution of his personal property, and as both were argued together, they will be considered together in this opinion.
The general rule at common law was that lapsed devises of real estate went to the heirs at law, whilst lapsed legacies of personal estate went to the residuary legatee. In the present cases this distinction becomes immaterial, for the question relates to a part of a residuary devise and legacy…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Smith and Others v. EdringtonSupreme Court of the United States · 1814
3Cited by5 opinions
- Gray's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1892
- Estate of FiskCalifornia Supreme Court · 1920
- Cryder v. GarrisonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1957
- Cryder v. GarrisonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1957
- Mason's EstatePennsylvania Orphans' Court, Philadelphia County · 1943