Dawes v. Swan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of debt on a bond to the judge of probate, conditioned that the defendant Swan should faithfully execute the last will of William Dennie, pay all debts and legacies, &e. The suit was instituted for the benefit of Samuel Clarke, a legatee named in the will. * The defendants were defaulted, and upon a hearing [ * 209 ] in chancery, the only question made to the' Court was, whether the said legatee was entitled to recover interest on his legacy.
1Opinion of the Court
The Chief Justice, observing that the Court were not unanimously agreed, requested his brother Sedgwick to deliver his opinion first, which he did, as follows : —
Sedgwick, J.
The question is, whether the legatee, Samuel Clarke, is entitled to interest on his legacy from the death, or from three months after the death, of the testator ; or whether the interest commenced, in the words of the bequest, on his arriving at the age of twenty-one years.
In this, as in every case of a legacy, we are bound to ascertain, as well as we can, from the whole of the testator’s will, in relation to the subject…
2Cited by31 opinions
- Van Nostrand v. . MooreNew York Court of Appeals · 1873
- Welsch v. Belleville Savings BankIllinois Supreme Court · 1879
- Parks v. ParksNew York Court of Chancery · 1841
- Bradford v. McConihayWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1879
- Verplanck v. TompkinsNew York Court of Appeals · 1898
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