Peter Vivian Daniel

“ These consequences would follow, that after the plaintiff has falsified the deed, and established by evidence that he was imposed upon when he put his seal to a false pretence of a sale, the defendant might escape and retain the spoils by admitting the falsehood of the deed, and thereby withdrawing himself out of the rules of the court, and insisting upon his own falsehood as the basis of a right to support the deed as a gift. A deed which expresses a valuable consideration, and no other, when impeached for inadequacy of price, cannot be supported by any evidence of natural love and affection. ”

“ It seems to be an established doctrine of a court of equity, that when the bill sets up a case of actual fraud, and makes that the ground of the prayer for relief, the plaintiff will not be entitled to a decree, by establishing some of the facts quite independent of fraud, but which might of themselves create a case under a totally distinct head of equity from that which would be applicable to the case of fraud originally stated. ”

“ Though a deed may, in equity, be impeached by averments negativing the consideration therein expressed, yet the converse of the proposition does not hold good, and a deed cannot be supported by evidence of a consideration different from that expressed in the deed. ”

“ The deposition of D. B. Baker, taken by plaintiff, shows that she was a person of bad disposition and temper, self-willed, and dictatorial. They prove, also, that she was content with the disposition of her property until she received a letter from her son, Joseph Eyre, in Philadelphia. That upon the new arrangement being made, by which an annuity was secured to her daughter, Mrs. Babcock, she was entirely satisfied, and deliberately ratified her conveyance, with a full knowledge of every thing pertaining to the subject. ”

“ There is no witness who supports the allegations of her bill, which constitute her claim to be relieved, against her solemn deed, by the rules of justice administered in courts of equity. Namely, that at the time of its execution she was sick, run down with fatigue and watching, distressed, ignorant of her rights concerning her husband's estate, and of the value thereof, in need of counsel, which she would have had but for the fraudulent acts of the defendants ”

“ Mere inadequacy of price, or any other inequality in a bargain, we are told, is not to be understood as constituting per se a ground to avoid a bargain in equity, for courts of equity, as well as courts of law, act upon the ground that every person who is not, from his peculiar condition or circumstances, under disability, is entitled to dispose of his property in such manner and upon such terms as he chooses ”

“ But supposing the questions of fact to be retried here, what evidence is there to sustain any material allegation in the bill, or to contradict any material averment in the answers?
That of the plaintiff consists mainly of the depositions of certain persons in Philadelphia, (for the most part her children and connections,) who depose that she had children by her first marriage, and manifested for them, in her intercourse, the usual family affection; that she was a delicate person, not of strong mind, and had some relatives who were lunatics ”

“ If the inadequacy be such as to show that the person did not understand the bargain, or was so oppressed that he was glad to make it, knowing its inadequacy, that shows a command over him amounting to fraud. ”

“ But in truth this testimony establishes no such position, either directly or inferentially, in reference to the complainant. In the first place, all these witnesses resided in a different State, and at the distance of many hundreds of miles from the complainant; and not one of them appears to have had any intercourse with her or to have seen her even for a series of years preceding the contract which it is essayed to vacate; nor to have been any knowledge of the existence of that contract until after its completion ”

“ Witness saw the complainant every day during the time she was at the house; she did not complain of ill health nor appear to be at all distressed; and witness had never seen her in better spirits. The conversations in which these declarations of complainant were made, were introduced by the complainant herself.
Margaret H. Wade, who is acquainted with the parties, states that she was three or four times at the house of defendant during his illness, and remained three or four hours during each time. Witness saw the complainant once only in the room of her husband ”

“ And its solution involves, mainly, the question, what guardianship, either for relief or restraint against their own action, do courts of equity assume over persons of either six, who are of mature age, of sound mind, and, in the case of women, not under coverture. ”