Hatch v. Atkinson
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On Motion to set aside the verdict as being against law and the weight of evidence. Assumpsit to recover the value of certain money and government bonds, alleged to have been given to the plaintiff by Dr. Bayles Atkinson, in apprehension of death.
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On Motion to set aside the verdict as being against law and the weight of evidence. Assumpsit to recover the value of certain money and government bonds, alleged to have been given to the plaintiff by Dr. Bayles Atkinson, in apprehension of death. The plaintiff testified, inter alia, that Dr. Atkinson was confined to his house about three weeks, and died Tuesday, January 16, 1866; that she came to his house a year previously.: that she was with him as nurse until he died; that the first week he was confined to the house, he told the plaintiff to take his trunk and money, put it into her room…
1Opinion of the CourtWalton, J.
— Grifts causa mortis are not favored in law. They are a fruitful source of litigation, often bitter, protracted and expensive. They lack all those formalities and safeguards which the law throws around wills, and create a strong temptation to the commission of fraud and perjury. Lord Hardwick declared, more than a hundred years ago, that it was a pity the statute for the prevention of frauds and perjuries did not set aside all such gifts. Justinian was so justly apprehensive of fraud with respect to them, that he required them to be made in the presence of five witnesses. If the law limited…
2Cited by21 opinions
- Basket v. HassellSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- Apache State Bank v. DanielsSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1911
- Chambers v. McCreeryCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1901
- Liebe v. BattmannOregon Supreme Court · 1898
- Daniel v. SmithCalifornia Supreme Court · 1883
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