Maria Eustaquia Ortiz De Rodriguez v. Jos Antonio Vivoni

• Citation: 26 S.Ct. 475,201 U.S. 371,50 L.Ed. 792
• Decision Date: 02 April 1906
• Docket Number: No. 209,209
• Parties: MARIA EUSTAQUIA ORTIZ DE RODRIGUEZ, by her Husband, Juan Bautista Rodriguez, Appt. , v. JOS E ANTONIO VIVONI, Concepci on Ramirez, Angela Ramirez, et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

201 U.S. 371

26 S.Ct. 475

50 L.Ed. 792

MARIA EUSTAQUIA ORTIZ DE RODRIGUEZ, by her Husband, Juan Bautista Rodriguez, Appt.,

v JOS E ANTONIO VIVONI, Concepci on Ramirez, Angela Ramirez, et al.

No. 209.

Argued and submitted March 14, 1906.

Decided April 2, 1906.

Messrs. Fritz von Briesen, Charles M. Boerman, and Stephen M. Hoye for appeallant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 371-374 intentionally omitted] Mr. N. B. K. Pettingill for appellees.

[Argument of Counsel intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a bill for the partition of real estate, in which the female plaintiff claims one undivided eighth as heir to her daughter, Felipa Benicia, who died an infant, without issue. This daughter got her title under the will of Thomas Jos e Ramirez, and the question is whether, in the event which happened, her share went to her mother by descent or to her fellow devisees by the terms of the will. The other devisees all were living at her death. The case was heard upon a plea setting up the foregoing facts, together with the will, and the bill was dismissed. Thereupon the plaintiffs appealed to this court.

The material clause of the will is as follows: 'Trece.—El remanente de mis bienes, derechos, y acciones, lo lego con calidad de fideicomiso, y que acrezcan las demas, caso de fallecimiento sin sucesi on legitima, por iguales partes, a mis sobrinas Dona Cornelia y Dona Antonia Martinez, Dona Monserrate, Dona Obdulia, Dona Encarnaci on, Dona Angela, y Dona Concesi on Ramirez de Arellano y Felipa Benicia, mi hija de crianza,' etc. We vary slightly the translation in the record. 'The remainder of my goods, rights, and actions I bequeath in the character of fidei-commissum and that the other [shares] may [profit by] accretion, in case of death without sucesi on legitima, by equal parts to my nieces [named] and Felipa Benicia, my foster child, who shall adopt my surname,' with appointment of a guardian for the last, a provision for her education, and a request that when that is finished she return to live with the said nieces.

It is agreed that it is possible for sucesi on legitima to mean either issue or lawful heirs. If it means the latter, the mother inherited, as she was the lawful heir. If it means the former, then, by the terms of the will, Felipa Benicia's share went to the testator's nieces when she died. It seems to us too plain to need extended elucidation that sucesi on legitima here means issue. The...