Melville Fuller

“ It will be perceived that the main charge of fraud in fact consists in an alleged conspiracy to obtain the property for less than it was worth. The claims that the sale was fixed at a unpropitious time, and that the squares should have been subdivided and sold in lots, go to the adequacy of the price. If there were no such conspiracy, the specific charge falls to the ground; and, if all the circumstances relied on to sustain it were actually known, or the appellees were chargeable with such knowledge, then it comes too late. ”

“ I greatly desire, as already stated, that my family shall remain as it now is, without change or modification or sale or valuation of the furniture or slaves until the said division of my estate, and that it shall until then be supported by the brick-kiln business, as though I were living; and as I believe the squares and lots of ground owned by my brother George and myself is now and will continue to increase in value, I desire, if possible, that said land may be kept unsold and undivided until as above stated, as it will thus be greatly to the advantage of my family ”

“ In all cases where actual fraud is not made out, but the imputation rests upon conjecture, where the seal of death has closed the lips of those whose character is involved, and lapse of time has impaired the recollection of transactions and obscured their details, the welfare of society demands the rigid enforcement of the rule of diligence. ”

“ Where there has been no change of circumstances between the parties, and no change with reference to the condition and value of the property, a court of chancery will run very nearly, if not quite, up to the measure of the statute of limitations, as applied in analogous cases in a court of law. ”

“ It is conceded that the proposition that, where a trustee or person, acting for others, sells the trust-estate and becomes himself interested in the purchase, the cestuis que trustent are entitled as of course to have the purchase set aside, is subject to the qualification that the application for such relief must be made within a reasonable tiem, and that laches and long acquiescence cannot be excused, except by showing some actual hindrance or impediment, caused by the fraud or concealment of the party in possession, which will appeal to the conscience of the chancellor. ”

“ It is not denied that George W. and John S. Hopkins were honest and reliable, and sustained a high reputation for integrity; and, if fraud or breach of trust ought not lightly to be imputed to the living, the evidence of fraud should be convincing before the sanctity of the grave is disturbed. Yet here the stress of the argument that the deceased were guilty is thrown upon the alleged inadequacy of price claimed to have been the result of selling squares 95 and 96 as an entirety and square 111 in the same way. ”

“ That the trustees had full knowledge of the future value of the property and desired to possess themselves of it at the lowest possible price, and therefore determined not to divide by partition, but to sell; and purposely sold at a time when the real-estate market was prostrated, and the building business so depressed that there was no demand for bricks, not withstanding they had ample power to change the time of sale if circumstances rendered it necessary or desirable ”

“ Girod, 4 How. 503, laid down the general rule that a person cannot purchase legally on his own account that which his duty or trust requires him to sell for another, nor purchase on account of another that which he sells on his own account, and that a purchase, per interpositam personam, by a trustee or agent of the particular property of which he has the sale, or in which he represents another, whether he has an interest in it or not, carries fraud on the face of it ”

“ No one can carefully peruse their evidence without being impressed with the belief that they were aware of that fact. Three of them testified that they knew their uncle and brother had become purchasers of the property from a bricklayer, or Chapman, who bought at the sale; not that they did not know or hear that he bought for the trustees. Mrs. Hall, who was but just 18 at the time, denied that she knew who bought the property until March, 1884, but said that she had no doubt that if she had applied to her uncle or brother for information in regard to the estate they would have given it. ”

“ We think complainants failed to make out their charges of fraud, and that, apart from that, the defense of laches interposes an insuperable bar to contention upon this subject.
We perceive no adequate reason given for the delay in the attack upon this deed, nor in respect of the proceeds of the Mix lots, nor in the assault upon the account stated and settled in the orphans' court in 1865. We fail to find any ground assigned for the ignorance of plaintiffs of the proceedings upon the executors' accounting, or why they received and receipted for their distributive shares as determined thereby. ”

“ Each case must necessarily be governed by its own circumstances, since, though the lapse of a few years may be sufficient to defeat the action in one case, a longer period may be held requisite in another, dependent upon the situation of the parties, the extent of their knowledge or means of information, great changes in values, the want of probable grounds for the imputation of intentional fraud, the destruction of specific testimony, the absence of any reasonable impediment or hindrance to the assertion of the alleged rights, and the like. ”

“ They were all simultaneously recorded on the 16th of November following, and spoke for themselves, carrying upon their face the evidence of the transaction as being a purchase by the trustees through Chapman. Thus viewed, their recitals were not false. If the consideration in the deed to Chapman had been the amount of his bids, there would have been more ground for such a suggestion. It was the trustees who paid, and the deeds showed it according to the fact. The delay in recording the deeds is of no moment. ”

“ It is said that the accounting in the orphans' court was had in order to 'further deceive appellees.' We find that on the 12th of July, 1864, citation was issued against the executors to settle an account, and that on the 23d of August the court appointed the 13th of the succeeding September for the final settlement and distribution of the personal estate of the deceased, and issued the requisite legal order for publication to be inserted once a week for three weeks in the National Intelligencer prior to said day, which was accordingly done. ”

“ Thomas J. Luttrell, administrator of George W. Hopkins; and Thomas J. Luttrell, executor of Cornelius Hopkins, alleging that prior to and on the 23d day of November, in the year 1858, John Hopkins and George W. Hopkins were seised and possessed in fee-simple each of an undivided moiety, as tenants in common, of squares numbered 94, 95, 96, 110, 111, in the city of Washington, as laid down on the public plats of the city; and that John Hopkins, on that day, executed his last will and testament, a copy of which was annexed. ”

“ The rule is peculiarly applicable where the difficulty of doing entire justice arises through the death of the principal participants in the transactions complained of, or of the witness or witnesses, or by reason of the original transactions having become so obscured by time as to render the ascertainment of the exact facts impossible. ”

“ It will subserve no useful purpose to go more minutely into the evidence. We regard the conclusion as irresistible that the fact that the purchase was made for and by the trustees was known to all of these children at or about the time of the sale. ”

“ Justice GRIER, speaking for the court, said that a complainant, seeking the aid of a court of chancery under such circumstances of lapse of time as there existed, 'must state in his bill distinctly the particular act of fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment,-must specify how, when, and in what manner it was perpetrated. ”

“ But the fact remains that the brick business was carried on upon these squares for years after the sale. They were thus advertised as a 'brick-yard, believed to be one of the best located in the District, having both Washington and Georgetown for a market, an abandance of fine clay, brick, and tempering sheds, kilns, offices, and all necessary outfit for a first class brick-yard.'
There is evidence of probable ground for the belief that the squares would in any view bring better prices by being sold in blocks ”

“ George Hopkins' house was there at the time; but houses were very scarce, I tell you. There may have been some old landmarks torn away that may have escaped my memory, but the whole place laid out in old fields and commons. I cannot recall any houses; but further out, near the boundary, there were some houses. I remember a house right at the head of Twentieth street. It is there still. Well, they were scattered around. Probably you would have to walk two or three squares to find houses. Q. Were there any path ways to get to the houses? ”

“ In our judgment, such a conclusion is inadmissible under the circumstances.
The bill averred that the conveyance of William M. S. and his wife to his brother John S., executed June 20, 1860, and recorded July 7, 1860, was fraudulent and void, and procured in pursuance of a general scheme of fraud on the part of the trustees. William was not a party to the suit, but by the decree the deed seems to have been ignored, and Sarah E. Hopkins, William's wife, treated as assignee of his share. ”

“ The debit account amounted to $24,155.59, and contained this item: 'And with this amount, being one-half the earnings of firm of J. & G. W. Hopkins in conducting the brick-kiln, owned in part by deceased, from the day of his death to date of rendering this account, first deducting the expenses of the family of deceased and other expenses, directed by the will of said deceased to be defrayed out of said earnings, and also the value of deceased's interest in said firm, as per affidavit filed with vouchers, $14,952.66.' The credits amounted to $2,024.13. ”

“ The false accounts made out against the estate of the deceased by the executors were on file, and their iniquity was apparent on their face. Moreover, the complainants resided in Europe, and were kept in ignorance of their rights, and hindered from prosecuting them by the promises, threats, and fraud of the guilty parties.'
And in Badger v. Badger, 2 Wall. 87, 95, the same eminent judge observed that a party seeking to avoid laches "should set forth in his bill specifically what were the impediments to an earlier prosecution of his claim ”

“ William M. S. Hopkins; Emeline V. Lilburn, born Hopkins; Mary V. Wailes, born Hopkins; Alice C. Hall, born Hopkins; John S. Hopkins; and Levin Hopkins. That Isaac H. and Levin Hopkins have since died intestate, and without issue. That George Washington Hopkins died in the month of July, 1870, leaving as his only children and heirs at law, William B. Hopkins, then 11 years of age, and Anna B. Hopkins, then 2 years of age. That the said Emeline V. Lilburn conveyed on April 7, 1884, all her right and title, absolutely and unconditionally, in said estate, to her daughter Ida M. Stone ”