Herr's Appeal
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
APPEAL from the decree of the Orphans’ Court of Lancaster county, upon the settlement of the account of Frances Herr, administratrix of Samuel Herr, deceased. The exception by the heir at law was, that the accountant had not charged herself with the sum of #5000 cash on hand at the death of the intestate.
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APPEAL from the decree of the Orphans’ Court of Lancaster county, upon the settlement of the account of Frances Herr, administratrix of Samuel Herr, deceased. The exception by the heir at law was, that the accountant had not charged herself with the sum of #5000 cash on hand at the death of the intestate. The accountant was the widow of the intestate, and admitted that there was between #4000 and #5000 in gold and silver> which was not taken into the inventory, and which she claimed as her own, by virtue of a gift to her by her husband in his lifetime; and to maintain this, she gave the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
— Such a gift as this would certainly be void at law; for not only is the wife’s capacity to contract with her husband extinguished by the merger of her legal existence in his, but as her possession is, in contemplation of law, his possession, she is *499incapable of receiving from him that delivery and transfer of it, which is essential to this species of contract. But where a gift to the wife is reasonable, and not in fraud of creditors, equity sustains' it as a provision for her, to which the interposition of a trustee is not indispensable;…
2Cited by9 opinions
- Kaufmann's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1924
- Leitch v. Diamond National BankSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1912
- Marshall v. JaquithMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Crawford's AppealSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1869
- Williams's AppealSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1864
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