David Davis

“ In a case of actual fraud courts of equity give relief after a long lapse of time, much longer than has passed since the executors in this instance purchased their testator's estate. In general, length of time is no bar to a trust clearly established to have once existed ”

“ While it is not necessary for the purposes of this case to decide whether this decree can be treated as a former adjudication of the matters in controversy, yet it is quite clear that forty years ago a Maryland court of equity, sitting on the spot where the transactions occurred, while they were fresh in the memory of men, did not believe Beale guilty of the breach of trust with which he was charged, and that the near kindred of the complainants acquiesced in the result of that suit. ”

“ They, of course, were reluctant to believe that their brother-in-law would wrong them, and his repeated promises doubtless kept them from calling him to a settlement in court long ago.
Under such a state of facts, neither the lapse of time nor statute of limitations can avail. ”

“ It stated that the farm, and what trust property remained, had prior to 1834 been sold by order of the court, by trustees duly appointed, and the proceeds distributed. It denied that Beale ever made the admissions, promises, and excuses alleged in the bill, or that the complainants ever asserted against him in his lifetime the claim now made or any claim; and asserted contrariwise that the complainants had received all that they were entitled to, and that their husbands had used what money they had, and left them, in widowhood, dependent on their relatives. ”

“ Hume, one of the complainants, it should be disregarded as having been received in violation of the act of Congress of March 3d, 1865; while so far as it came from the old slaves, Johnson and Brooks, who naturally wished to testify in favor of their young mistress, it was destroyed by the very witnesses themselves; and that if Mr. Beale ever did bring slave-traders to the farm to buy slaves, it was doubtless to buy his own wife's slaves; those that came from Mrs. Lane, her grandmother, and were on the farm, but were not among those conveyed by old Mr. Berry. ”

“ It is an established rule with courts of equity, independent of any statute limiting the time in which suits can be brought, that they will not entertain stale demands. This rule is necessary from considerations of public policy, and because it is impossible to do entire justice when the transactions sought to be impeached have become obscure by lapse of time, and the evidence on the subject is liable to be lost. Story, referring to the rule imposing diligence upon parties seeking relief, says: 'Hence, if there be a clear breach of trust by a trustee ”

“ Eleanor Berry took up her residence in Washington City, and there became acquainted with, and, as was rumored, was married (secretly, in order to avoid a forfeiture of her life estate) , to a certain Col. Owings. While on the farm, according to the testimony, she 'lived finely, and entertained a great deal.' Her course of life in Washington also was expensive. She had very little property of her own, and that not in money.
In the years 1828 and 1829, that is, after the death of Mr. Berry, the grantor, and before the year 1830, nearly all the slaves had disappeared from the farm ”