Farwell v. Jacobs
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of the case to recover damages for not paying a legacy bequeathed to the plaintiff in and by the last will and testament of Timothy Farwell, deceased.
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This was an action of the case to recover damages for not paying a legacy bequeathed to the plaintiff in and by the last will and testament of Timothy Farwell, deceased. The declara- [ * 635 ] tian * states that the testator being seised and possessed of large real and personal estate, made his last will on the 30th of September, 1798, of which he made Henry Farwell, his son, executor, and therein, among other things, directed the executor to support, in sickness and in health, the testator’s aged father, who is the now plaintiff; that the testator afterwards died, and his will was proved,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Parsons, C. J.
At common law, no action lies to recover a legacy, or damage for non-payment of it. The remedy of the legatee is either in the ecclesiastical court or in chancery. Having neither of these courts, by the provincial statute of 5 Will, and Mar. c. 3, it was enacted that any certain legacy, or any residuary or uncertain legacy, reduced to a certainty by the executor’s account, may be sued for and recovered at the common law. By the statute of 1783, c. 24, in which this part of the provincial statute is revised, it is enacted, in general…
2Cited by41 opinions
- Marshall v. FiskMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1809
- Warner v. BatesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
- Rundle v. . AllisonNew York Court of Appeals · 1866
- Collins v. CarmanCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1853
- Smith v. FellowsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1881
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