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108 Pa. 138

Cook v. Petty

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided January 5, 1885

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1885-01-05

<p>L. Where a testator by his will blended his residuary estate real, personal and mixed, and gave and devised the same to his five children share and share alike,</p> <p>Held, that this, by implication, made certain legacies, bequeathed by a previous clause of the will, a lien on the residuary estate; and that it was- immaterial that the jjersonal estate was sufficient to pay the debts and legacies, but was not so applied to the latter by the executors. The legacies, nevertheless, remained a charge on the land.</p> <p>2. A., one of the residuary devisees bought the undivided one fifth share of B., another residuary devisee, in the above real estate, and gave a mortgage to secure the purchase money, A. then mortgaged his two fifths to a bank. The latter mortgage was foreclosed in the United States Circuit Court, and at a marshal’s sale in pursuance thereof the property was bought by C — testator’s administrator c. t. a. — to whom a marshal’s deed was made. Afterwards B. foreclosed his mortgage and bought in the property at the sheriff’s sale in pursuance thereof, and received a sheriff’s deed. The fund produced by the marshal’s sale was distributed by the United States Court, and at that distribution the judgment upon which the sheriff’s sale to B. was afterwards made, was presented and the fund claimed thereon, on the ground that the lien of the legacies had been divested because there was originally sufficient personal property to pay them. The United States Court decided against this, and held that said lien had not been divested. In an action of éjectment by B., relying on his sheriff’s deed, against C. et al., j Held that the decree of distribution in the United States Court, having never been disturbed, settled Hie question of the legacies remaining a lien on the land, and that it would not be reviewed by the court, in this action.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1885-01-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently April 1929

5 state decisions

3018851890190019101920decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Chief Justice Mercur

¶1delivered the opinion of the court, January 5th, 1885.

¶2The testator, under whom both parties claim title, blended his residuary estate, real, personal and mixed, and gave and devised the same to his five children, share and share alike. This,' by implication, made the legacies a lien oh the residuary estate. Although the personal estate may have been sufficient to pay the debts and the- legacies, yet if not applied to the latter, they remain a charge on the real, estate, and are *142entitled to payment out of the proceeds, when sold on an execution against the residuary devisee: Bank v. Donaldson 7 W. & S. 410. The injustice of permitting such a devisee to squander the personal estate and claim to hold the realty discharged from the lien of the legacies, is too manifest to be tolerated. It follows the legacies were a lien at the time of the sale made by the United States marshal. The title passed by virtue of that sale, and deed made and delivered in pursuance thereof.

¶3The fund produced by the marshal’s sale was distributed by the United States Court. On that distribution, the judgment on which the sheriff’s sale has been made, was presented and the fund claimed thereon on the allegation that the lien of the legacies had been divested by reason of a sufficiency of personal estate to have paid them. The court decided against this view, holding the lien was not thereby divested. Thus the very matter now set up was then passed upon and decided by a court of competent jurisdiction. The fund was in that court. The parties were before it. The decree of distribution which it made has never been disturbed. It became final. If we thought it wrong, we would not now review its correctness. We discover no error in the admission of evidence. It follows the learned judge committed no error in entering judgment in favor of the defendants on the question of law reserved. ,

¶4Judgment affirmed.

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