Woltemate's Appeal

Citation86 Pa. 219
PartiesWoltemate's Appeal. Ditsche's Estate.
Decision Date11 February 1878
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Before AGNEW, C. J., SHARSWOOD, MERCUR, GORDON, PAXSON, WOODWARD and TRUNKEY, JJ.

Appeal from the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia county: Of January Term 1875, No. 220.

Appeal of Rosalie Woltemate, from the decree of the court confirming the report of the auditor upon the account of the administratrix of Xavier Ditsche, deceased.

W. Wynne Wister, Jr., and Henry M. Phillips, for appellant.— The third section of the Act of 1855 provides: "Illegitimate children shall take and be known by the name of their mother. And they and their mother shall respectively have capacity to take or inherit from each other personal estate, as next of kin, and real estate as heirs in fee simple; and as respects said real or personal estate, so taken and inherited, to transmit the same according to the intestate laws of this state." The appellant was within the spirit and the language of this act. The words, "and they and their mother shall respectively have capacity to take and inherit from each other," create between the illegitimate children of the same mother a capacity to take and inherit from each other. They shall respectively take from each other, means, each one from each.

B. F. Fisher and George W. Thorne, for appellee.—The intention of the act is that illegitimate children as a class, and their mothers as a class, should have the capacity to inherit, the one class from the other; but it did not create such a capacity between the children, one to another. The construction of the act, in Opdyke's Appeal, 13 Wright 373, Grubb's Appeal, 8 P. F. Smith 55, and Steckel's Appeal, 14 Id. 493, sustains this construction.

The judgment of the Supreme Court was entered, February 11th 1878, PER CURIAM.

The interpretation heretofore given to the Act of April 27th 1855, relating to illegitimates, is, that the inheritance of estates is confined to the mother and the illegitimate child, but extends from either to the other: Opdyke's Appeal, 13 Wright 373; Grubb's Appeal, 8 P. F. Smith 55; Steckel's Appeal, 14 Id. 493. This is in accordance with the precise language of the act, to wit: "And they (illegitimate children) and their mothers shall respectively have capacity to take or inherit from each other." This has been held to be the extent to which the legislature opened the door to illegitimates. As the mother of both the brother and sis...

To continue reading

Request your trial
7 cases
  • Frazier v. Oil Chemical Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • March 20, 1962
    ...1340; Com. v. Mackey, 222 Pa. 613, 615-616, 72 A. 250; McFarlin's Estate, 267 Pa. 510, 514, 110 A. 164, 111 A. 444; Woltemate's Appeal, 86 Pa. 219, 220; Opdyke's Appeal, 49 Pa. 14 Manfredi's Estate, 399 Pa. 285, 159 A.2d 697; Mayers v. Ewing, D.C., 102 F.Supp. 201; Wharton's Estate, 218 Pa.......
  • Commonwealth v. Mackey
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • January 4, 1909
    ...... Mackey No. 65Supreme Court of PennsylvaniaJanuary 4, 1909 . Argued:. October 14, 1908. . . . Appeal, No. 65, Oct. T., 1908, by defendant, from judgment of. C.P. Butler Co., March T., 1908, No. 226, on case stated in. suit of Commonwealth v. E. ......
  • Thompson v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co.
    • United States
    • Superior Court of Pennsylvania
    • March 3, 1910
    ......69-1909Superior Court of PennsylvaniaMarch 3, 1910 . Argued. October 18, 1909. . . Appeal. by defendant, from judgment of C.P. Wyoming Co.-1907, No. 51,. on verdict for plaintiff in case of Mary Thompson v. The. Delaware, Lackawanna & ......
  • Estate of McCully
    • United States
    • Superior Court of Pennsylvania
    • December 11, 1899
    ...12 Pa.Super. 78 Estate of Amanda McCully, Deceased. Appeal of Lizzie Graham et al No. 82-1899Superior Court of PennsylvaniaDecember 11, 1899 . Argued. October 9, 1899. [12 Pa.Super. 79] . ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT