This is an action of replevin to recover possession of a negro girl, slave named Rachel. This girl is the child of Riah, a negro woman bequeathed in the will of Joseph Richards in the following words, viz : “ I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Coon, during her natural life, at the end of which to the only heirs of her body, one negro girl named Riah, this to the aforementioned to them and their heirs forever.” The testator, Richards, died in the year 1823.
Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently July 1965
1 state decisions
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
¶1
If the property had been land, and Joseph Richards had devised it to his daughter Elizabeth Coon for life,
“
at the end of which, to the only heirs of her
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body, this to the aforementioned, to them and their heirs,” it would in law have been an immediate estate tail, vested in Elizabeth Coon. In looking over the whole will, there is not a word in it, to indicate that the testator intended “
children,”
when-he used the words, '■ heirs of the body of Elizabeth Coon.” These words, must therefore, have their legal effect, and in as much as they would have created an estate tail in Mrs. Coon, if the subject matter had been land, they in law create in her an absolute estate in Riah, she, Riah, being personal property. The two cases cited by the plaintiff's counsel, are we think in point for him.
¶2
The judgment of nonsuit must be set aside, and a new trial granted.
