Stewart v. Redditt

Mason, J., delivered the opinion of this court. We do not deem it necessary to express any opinion in regard to the effect which the case of Key vs. Davis, 1 Maryland Rep., 32 , should have upon the case now' before us. Assuming that the present proceeding is not inconsistent with the principles annunciated in that case, still there are other questions presented in this record, which will enable us to settle the present controversy, independently of the principles involved in the case of Key vs. Davis. Although the questions which -we are called upon to decide were presented in numerous and various shapes in the court below, yet, upon an attentive examination of the record, wc find, in fact, but three distinct, substantive, propositions, submitted for our adjudication.

The first relates to so much of the testimony of .Charles Seward, as seeks to disclose to the jury the declarations of the decedent in regard to the execution by her, of the bill of sale in controversy ; the second is the admissibility of Wm.

II

Spedden’s testimony, in so far as he attempts to give his opinion of the mental capacity of the deceased to make a valid .contract; and third, the character and effect of the bill of sale, and its sufficiency to pass a legal title to the property in dispute. The history of this case is briefly this: On the 10th day of July, 1830, Sarah Sevrard, who is alleged was non compos mentis, executed a bill of sale to Elijah Marshall, her brother-in-law, for certain slaves therein named, upon the consideration that the said Marshall would maintain and support her through life, which was acknowledged and recorded. Sarah Seward died about the year 1835, and in 1850, the plantifT took out letters of administration upon her estate, by virtue of which he instituted suit against the defendant to recover the value of the slaves in controversy. Although the fact does not appear, yet it seems to be conceded that the defendant in the present action, is to be treated as holding the same title to the property in dispute, which Marshall held by virtue of the conveyance from Sarah Seward. ⁷⁸ In the .course of the trial, the questions before enumerated arose out .of the .evidence offered.

The evidence which was first excluded, and which forms the basis of the first exception, was that of Charles Seward, in reference to the declarations of Sarah. Those statements are as follows,: “She came to my house once after the time it was said that she had made a writing, giving her negroes to Mr. Marshall. I asked her about it; she said she had not done so that she knew of, and if she had she wanted me to get them back.” These declarations it will be observed, were made after the execution of the deed, and were, therefore, no part of the res gestee* The purpose of the plaintiff, (who represents the grantor) in introducing this testimony was to vacate the deed, and it would seem to be a violation of a well established legal principle, to allow the declarations of a party to an instrument of writing, made subsequent to its execution, to be given in evidence to invalidate it upon any ground. But the evidence, it is said, was offered to establish insanity.

Apart from the principle that a party shall not stultify himself, it will be readily seen that so far from necessarily tending to prove insanity, these declarations may as well have been the fruits of a well conceived deceit, as of a vacant mind. Hurn’s Lessee vs. Soper, 6 Har. and Johns., 276. The objection to the testimony, we think, was well taken. The next objection was made to receiving the opinion of W. H. Spedden, in regard to the competency of Sarah Seward to make a valid deed.

The law on this subject has been fully and well defined by our Court of Appeals, in the case of Brooke vs. Townshend, 7 Gill, 10 , and it but remains for us to apply the principles of that case to the one now before us. The principles to be gathered from that case, so far as they are applicable to the present, are these: that the mere naked, unsupported opinion of the witness, relative to the sanity of the party, is not admissible; yet his opinion, in connection with the facts upon which it is formed, is evidence, provided those facts are of such a nature as will enable him to form a knowledge of the party’s intellect which .is brought in question. ⁷⁹ From, the facts deposed to by Spedden, viz., (that he knew Sarah Seward; that he lived near her; has seen her at church and at Marshall’s; that she did not eat with the family, and did not speak to the wdtness nor with the family, and, in some other respects, was peculiar in her deportment) no legitimate conclusions can be drawn as to the state of her mind, especially when we are told by the witness himself, that he was but a small boy when these circumstances occurred. This evidence was inadmissible, inasmuch as the court can discover that no sufficient foundation was laid for the opinion of the witness, which was to constitute the knowledge which was to be given to the jury. An opinion under such circumstances cannot be treated as knowledge, but must be viewed as “the mere unsupported opinion of the witness,” and therefore, under the authority of Brooke vs. Townshend, cannot be received as testimony.

We can see no valid objection to the bill of sale as evidence in this cause. It is first objected to on the ground, that its delivery has not been proved. Delivery, it is true, is essential to the legal validity of a deed, but it is not necessary that any precise form of delivery should be resorted to. The delivery may be either actual or verbal, and it is sufficient if there be an intention or assent of the mind, on the part of the grantor, to treat the deed as his.

Byers vs. McClanahan, 6 Gill and Johns., 250. The instrument in this case was duly acknowledged and recorded, and whether the law requires these formalities or not, to make this a valid deed, they