Brown v. Woody

• Citation: 64 Mo. 547
• Parties: JANE BROWN Respondent, v. JOHN WOODY, ADM'R, ETC., Appellant.
• Decision Date: 30 April 1877
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

64 Mo. 547

JANE BROWN Respondent,

v.JOHN WOODY, ADM'R, ETC., Appellant.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

April Term, 1877.

Appeal from Christian County Circuit Court.

James R. Vaughn, for Appellant, cited: Dodson, Adm'r, vs. Scroggs, Adm'r, 47 Mo. 285; Cones vs. Ward, Adm'r, Id. 289; State ex rel. Renick vs. St. Louis County Court, 38 Mo. 402; Gould vs. Hayes, 19 Ala. 450; Comm. vs. Hudson, 11 Gray, 64, 65.

C. W. Thrasher, with H. C. Young, for Respondent, cited: Hembree vs. Campbell, 8 Mo. 572; Dodson vs. Scroggs, 47 Mo. 285; Local Acts, Gen. Assembly 1855, p. 58, § 4; Swearingen vs. Wood, Adm'r, 7 Mo. 421; Carson vs. Walker, 16 Mo. 68; Miller vs. Doan, 19 Mo. 650; Wernecke vs. Wood, Adm'r, 58 Mo. 357; Howard vs. Thornton, 50 Mo. 291; Phillipson vs. Bates, 2 Mo. 116.

NORTON, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff recovered judgment in the probate and common pleas court of Greene county, against the defendant, as administrator of A. Woody, deceased, which judgment was ordered by said court to be certified to the probate court of Christian county. On the 29th of October, 1873, plaintiff having given the requisite notice of her intention so to do, presented to the probate court of Christian county a certified transcript of said judgment for classification against the estate of A. Woody, deceased. The defendant appeared, and the said court, after hearing the cause, ordered said judgment to be placed in the 5th class of claims against the estate of said deceased. From this judgment defendant appealed to the circuit court of Christian county, which court affirmed the judgment of the probate court, placing said judgment in the 5th class of demands against the estate of the deceased. From this judgment defendant, having made an ineffectual motion for a new trial, appealed to this court.

On the trial of the cause plaintiff offered in evidence the following judgment, rendered by the probate and common pleas court of Greene county: Jane Brown, plaintiff, vs. J. M. Woody, Adm'r of Abraham Woody, deceased. Now, at this day comes on again to be heard this cause as to the damages claimed by plaintiff, for use, and occupation, and rents and profits of lands described in plaintiff's petition as the homestead of John D. Brown, deceased, the dower having been heretofore assigned by the order and judgment of this court on the agreement of parties in interest, and said cause continued as to the damages claimed by said Jane Brown, and the said parties being present by their attorneys, and neither party requiring a jury for the trial of said cause, but submitting the same to the court for the purpose of finding the facts in said cause; whereupon, after hearing the evidence in the cause, the court doth find that the said Jane Brown is the relict and widow of the said John D. Brown, deceased, and that the messuages described in the petition were the homestead of said John D. Brown, deceased, in possession; that the said John D. Brown, deceased, on or about the 1st day of November, 1864, and the said Abraham Woody, deceased, in his life time, and that said John H. Woody, administrator of said A. Woody, deceased, occupied the said messuages for the years 1865 and 1866, during the time for which the said Jane Brown was entitled to the possession and occupancy of the same, as such widow, and that the rents and profits of the same were worth three hundred dollars a year for each of said years 1865 and 1866. It is, therefore, considered and adjudged by the court that said plaintiff have and recover of and from the said John H. Woody, as such administrator, the sum of six hundred dollars for damages, and that she have her damages and costs and charges, and that the same be certified to the probate court of Christian county, Missouri.

This judgment, properly certified, was the only evidence offered in the case, and to its introduction defendant objected, urging in support of his objection, that the judgment was void, because the probate and common pleas court of Greene county had no jurisdiction either over Woody, as administrator, or the subject matter of the suit, and because the said judgment having been rendered for damages for non-assignment of dower of lands in Greene county, belonging to the estate of A. Woody, deceased, the probate court of Christian county had no power or jurisdiction to award execution against the lands.

It may be inferred from the judgment, that the proceeding in which it was rendered was instituted for assignment of dower to plaintiff in lands in Greene county. When it was commenced does not appear. Whether it was begun in the life time of A. Woody or after his death, we are left to conjecture. How long it had been pending cannot be learned...