John Catron

“ The court erred, also, in instructing the jury that if Egbert J. Sessions had possession of the slaves levied, before his wife was eighteen years old, such possession could only be as executor, and could not invest him with the necessary possession to fix his marital right in the property.
If possession of a wife's legacy be postponed by the will, the husband, it is true, cannot be entitled to recover its possession ”

“ If payment was only postponed, the law would consider it as a vested legacy, but the consequences of a vested legacy do not follow here; therefore it cannot be so. The devise over shows that it was not the intention of the testator that the legacy should vest immediately, and his intention must be the guide to the construction of his will. It is true that chancery inclines to consider legacies as vested, when it is doubtful, but all agree that every thing must give way to the intention of the testator, to ascertain which is the object of all rules. ”

“ Had he died before, then we think it clear, the wife would have taken, and not the personal representative of the husband, as the executors could not assent in his behalf to the vestiture of the legacy in possession. Provisions in wills, that the executors shall retain the property devised until the devisee is of lawful age, and postponements to later periods, are of common occurrence; the executors having assumed the trust, are held to its execution-on their responsibility and prudence the testator relied, and not on future husbands that young and orphan daughters might marry ”

“ Hereafter, when any woman, possessed of a property in slaves, shall marry, her property in such slaves, and their natural increase, shall continue to her, notwithstanding her coverture; and she shall have, hold, and possess, the same, as her separate property, exempt from any liability for the debts or contracts of the husband.'
The 24th section gave to a woman who became entitled to slaves, during coverture, the same right which the preceding section gave to those women who possessed slaves at the time of marriage. ”

“ On this proof the court instructed the jury, 'that the property devised and bequeathed by the will of Russell Smith to the claimant, Martha A., did not vest in her, nor was she entitled to the possession of it until she, the claimant, arrived at the age of eighteen years; and although she married the defendant in the execution before that time, the title of the property could not be vested in him, until the claimant attained eighteen years of age, at which time, under the will, she became entitled to the possession of it ”

“ The property levied upon was suffered to remain in the hands of the possessors, upon their executing a forthcoming bond.
In 1839, the legislature of Mississippi passed an act, (Acts, 72,) the 22d and 23d sections of which were as follows:
'Sect. 22. Any married woman may become seised or possessed of any property, real or personal, by direct bequest, demise, gift, purchase, or distribution, in her own name, and as of her own property; provided, the same does not come from her husband after coverture. ”

“ These evils are too prominent, and have too long employed the anxious cares of prudent testators, for this court to lend its sanction in any degree to impair the guards interposed by wills, whereby the rights of possession and enjoyment are withheld from devisees. ”

“ In August, 1839, Price, a citizen of the republic of Texas, and suing for the use of Gaulley, a citizen of the state of New York, brought suit against the three makers of the notes aforesaid, in the Circuit Court of the United States. ”