by John Marshall

“ It is undoubtedly true, that their title cannot be in both characters, and that the will, if it passes the estate differently from what it would pass at law, defeats their title as heirs. But a man may devise lands to his heirs, and the statement that they are his heirs, as well as his devisees, though not a strictly artificial mode of declaring, is an error of form and not of substance. Of the same character is, we think, the omission to state how the plaintiffs are heirs, or to set out the will. ”

“ It is the opinion of the Court, that the fourth and fifth counts, however informal, have substance enough in them to be maintained against a general demurrer, and that the judgment must be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings. It will be in the power of the Circuit Court to allow the parties to amend their pleadings. ”

“ This is an action of covenant brought by the heirs and devisees of Nathaniel Day, in the Court for the Seventh Circuit, for the District of Tennessee, on a covenant contained in a deed from the defendant to the said Nathaniel Day, purporting to convey a tract of land therein mentioned. ”