Mackall v. Mackall

• Decision Date: 21 April 1890
• Parties: MACKALL et al. v. MACKALL et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

135 U.S. 167

10 S.Ct. 705

34 L.Ed. 84

MACKALL et al. v. MACKALL et al.

April 21, 1890.

[168]

S. S. Henkle, for appellants.

J. S. Blackburn, S. Shellabarger, J. M. Wilson, and W. Willoughby, for appellees.

BREWER, J.

This is an appeal from a decree of the supreme court of the District of Columbia. The facts are these: On December 9, 1879, Brooke Mackall, Sr., made a will, whereby he gave to his children, other than Brooke Mackall, Jr., all his property, declaring as to said Brooke Mackall, Jr., that 'by this, my last will and testament, I do not give, devise, or bequeath to my son, Brooke Mackall, Jr., any part, parcel, or portion of my property whatever, as the said Brooke Mackall, Jr., heretofore received from me many and large advances, and as it would be unjust to my other children hereinbefore named, but I direct Leonard to pay him one dollar.' This will was duly probated. On February 27, 1880, he executed and delivered to Brooke Mackall, Jr., a deed conveying many lots in Washington and Georgetown. A few days thereafter, and on March 7, 1880, he died, being at the time about 80 years of age. On February 14, 1882, complainants, devisees under the will, filed their bill, setting forth the will and the deed, and praying a decree 'declaring null and void and of no effect the deed of conveyance executed on the 27th day of February, 1880, by the decedent to the defendant, Brooke Mackall, Jr., and ordering the same to be delivered up to the complainants, and affirming the validity of the will made by the decedent on the 9th day of December, 1879.' The gravamen of the bill was undue influence on the part of Brooke Mackall, Jr., in securing the execution of the deed. Upon final hearing, a decree was entered as follows by the general term, in which the case was heard in the first instance: 'That the deed of Brooke Mackall, Sr., to the defendant, Brooke Mackall, Jr., of February 27, 1880, described in the bill of complaint, shall, as to lot No. 7, in square 223, at the south-west corner of Fourteenth street and New York avenue, in the city of Washington, D. C., and the interest therein described and growing out of the same, operate as a confirmation of the title, legal and equitable, in the said grantee, the defendant, Brooke Mackall, Jr., as to all the parties to this suit, and shall stand as a deed of conveyance for such purposes; but as to the remainder of the property described in said conveyance, not relating to said lot No. 7, in square 223, the said conveyance shall be, and the same is hereby, adjudged and decreed to be inoperative, null, and void.' From that decree the complainants appealed to this court.

As the bill was to set aside the deed as a whole, as having been obtained through undue influence, the decree is apparently incongruous, in that it declares that the deed be sustained as a confirmation of the title of Brooke Mackall, Jr., to lot No. 7, and void as to the other real estate; for if it were, as charged in the bill, a deed obtained through undue influence, it would seem that it should have been adjudged void in toto, and not sustained in part. It will be observed, however, that Brooke Mackall, Jr., took no appeal; so that the question before us is, not whether there was error in declaring the deed void in part, but whether there was error in declaring it valid n part. Error, if error there was, may have been in either portion of the decree; but the limit of our inquiry is as to whether the deed was valid, and should be confirmed, as to lot No. 7. If that part of the decree can be sustained, the incongruity is no matter of concern, for defendants have taken no steps to bring before us the other portion.

Further, in respect to this lot No. 7, it must be observed that the answer alleges that the defendant Brooke Mackall, Jr., was, and had been for many years, the equitable owner. So, if the deed, as an independent and separate instrument, was valid, or the allegation of Brooke Mackall, Jr., that he was the equitable owner of lot No. 7, is true, any informality in the language of the decree may be disregarded, for in substance it was right. This compels an inquiry, not merely into the circumstances surrounding the execution of the deed, but also as to the relations of the parties to this litigation to one another, and to the decedent. More than 20 years before his death differences arose between Brooke Mackall, Sr., and his wife, which culminated in a decree of divorce. In those differences Brooke Mackall, Jr., sided with his father, the other children with their mother; and a large part of the record before us is made up of a story of those differences, and of the conduct and testimonly of the children. No good purpose would be served by parading in this opinion those unpleasant facts, or by attempting to pass judgment in approval or condemnation of the conduct of either. Charity kindly throws a mantle of oblivion over these matters of long ago; and justice requires only notice of the fact that in the separation of parents the children took part, the one with the father, the others with the mother. During the score of years which intervened between this separation and the death of Brooke Mackall, Sr., the defendant Brooke Mackall, Jr., was his constant companion and friend. This intimacy was unbroken, save in two instances of short duration each, the latter one being in the fall of 1879, during which time the will referred to was executed. That after this temporary estrangement had ceased, he should desire to transfer to this son and constant companion his property, is not only not strange, but most natural and reasonable. It is true the deed was made after his last sickness had commenced; but how natural that during those hours of sickness the relations between himself and his children, during times of trouble and length of years, should present themselves to his mind with exceeding force. It is conceded that up to the time of his sickness he was a strong man, physically and mentally. Such a nature forms strong likes and strong dislikes, and at no time are such likes and dislikes so potent as when the thought of approaching death suggests the last action in respect thereto. That up to and including the time of the execution of this deed heretained his mental faculties in full vigor, unclouded by opiates, the testimony of his physician, his pastor, the justice of the peace before whom the deed was acknowledged, his counsel, and his nurse abundantly establishes. Indeed, the contention of counsel on the argument was not that the grantor was ignorant of the scope and purpose of the deed, or was doing that which he did not intend to do, but rather that the deed thus knowingly and...