Cooksey v. Bryan
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Hearing on an appeal by;the complainant from a decree of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, holding an equity term, dismissing a bill to establish a resulting trust. The Court in its opinion stated the case as follows: This is a suit in equity instituted for the purpose of having a deed absolute on its face decreed to be a resulting trust.
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Hearing on an appeal by;the complainant from a decree of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, holding an equity term, dismissing a bill to establish a resulting trust. The Court in its opinion stated the case as follows: This is a suit in equity instituted for the purpose of having a deed absolute on its face decreed to be a resulting trust. On or about April 4, 1858, one Peter Hepburn died in the city of Washington intestate, and leaving considerable estate, both real and personal in said city. The heirs at law, who were all of age, three sons and three daughters, the latter all…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Morris
A court of equity must regard with great suspicion any attempt to show a resulting trust in a transaction thirty years and upwards after the transaction has been consummated, and especially when the immediate parties to the transaction are both dead. Indeed, at one time, it was greatly questioned whether such an attempt ought to be allowed at all after the death of the person primarily interested and who is sought to be held as a trustee (Sanders on Uses and Trusts, 127-134); and even Sir Edward Sugden, in his work on Vendors and Purchasers, 414-19, doubted whether parol proof was admissible…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Prevost v. GratzSupreme Court of the United States · 1821
- Wales v. NewbouldMichigan Supreme Court · 1860
- Lynn v. GephartCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1867
- Weeks v. HaasSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1842
- Fogelsonger v. SomervilleSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1820