Case ID: scl_15/html/0183-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Nott, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Heirs at law of Mason Lee v. Ex. of Mason Lee.
    iixcentricily however great, is not sufficient to invalidate a Will.
    The mind is presumed to he sound until the contrary is clearly proved.
    Nor is it sufficient to shew that the imagination of the testator was generally disturbed with a strange belief in witches, devils, and evil spirits, which he fancied continually worried him, and that he lived in the strangest manner, wearing an extraordinary dress, sleeping in a hollow log, and exhibiting other extravagancies, the mah being able in other respects to manage his affairs.
    To avoid a Will for insanity, a case of general insanity must be made out, of particular insanity at the time of executing it.
    It is not every man of a frantic appearance and behaviour who is to be considered a lunatic.
    ¡nt must If general insanity is proved, he that sets shew a lucid interval.
    That a will is unjust to one’s relation should be considered an irrational ac'
    The law puts no restrictions upon a property in any way his partialitie; prompt him.
    The number, intelligence, and charcS question of insanity, should have
    This case came before the court for Marlboro’ district, on an appeal from the Court of Ordinary, of that district, admitting to probate the last will and testament of Mason Lee, deceased, who died some short time after executing the will, in July, 1820, leaving the appellants his nephews and nieces, his heirs at law, and two illegitimate sons entirely unprovided for, and giving his whole estate, valued at about $50,000, to the States of South Carolina and Tennessee. The only question was, whether Lee at the time of making his will, was of sound and disposing mind?
    Within the four last years of his life he had made four wills. All these wills were alike, except in the change of the executors and legatees. The first will gave all his property to the United States, the second to South Carolina and Georgia, and the third and fourth to South Caro-linaand Tennessee. In other respects the four wills wex*e copies of each other. The will in dispute was in the following words:
    “ In the name of God, amen, I Mason Lee, of the State of South Carolina, being of perfect mind, memo-17, and understanding, do make .this as and for my last will and testament, revoking and disannulling all former wills and bequests by me heretofore made, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament, in manner and form following, viz.: 1st. It is my will that all my just debts be punctually paid. 2ndly. I will and bequeath unto the two states of South Carolina and Tennessee, all my estate, both real and personal, in equal shares, that is to say, all the slaves which I now have or may hereafter have, I wish hired out in the state of Tennessee for and during the space of twenty three years after my decease, under the direction of my after-named executors ; and after the expiration of that term my will and desire is, that the whole of my estate both real and personal, be sold by my executors, and the whole proceeds-, with every other part and portion thereof, be paid into the treasuries of the states aforesaid — provided nevertheless, I do not leave my child or children the same or any part thereof, which may be made known by my own hand writing, But in that event, and should they or it die without lawful issue of his, her, or their bodies or body, then tobe paid into the treasuries of the states for their benefit and behoof forever. And it is my will and desire that no part or parcel of my estate shall be enjoyed, or in any wise inherited by either or any of my relations, while wood grows or water rims, except as above excepted. And my executors are enjoined to contend with them either in law or equity, to enforce this my will, by employing the best Charleston lawyers, at the expense of my estate ; or in any other way, again, again, and 
      
      iigain. And lastly, I do nominate, appoint, and ordain, Robison Caiioss, Esq. of South Carolina, Marlborough District, one of the executors of this my last will and testament, together with one of the first rate Baptist ministers belonging to the association of the state of Tennessee. And it is my desire that my executors shall be liberally rewarded out of my estate, for all expenses and trouble attending the same. And my executors are again enjoined to contend against any of my relations who may wish to have any of my estate, or to defend this will so long as there is money enough left to fee the best lawyer in Charleston,' or in the above states mentioned.”
    On the part of the heirs at lav/ it was proved that, except as it respects Baker Wiggins, Lee had not any good cause for disliking his relations. And the two natural sons, who were twins, had given him no cause of oifenee. With one of them he was living at the time he made his last will, on the most amicable footing. It appeared that he had come to a settled determination to make a will in favor of no human beingj and that this arose from the belief that if he did so, the legatee would wish him dead, or otheiwise injure him. He appeared to have no objection to give property to those very relations, whom he disinherited, provided the gift took present effect, and therefore would not be followed by the destructive wish of his death. He accordingly did give property to some of these very relations, to ’whom he had such an invincible aversion to give by will; and that to Baker Wiggins he had offered to give a plantation for the consideration of seven pence. He was evidently under the' further belief that all his relations desired him dead, to get his property ; and that for that purpose, to use his own language, they “ squibbed and darted and gummer-ed himthat they used supernatural agency, and that in various forms they bewitched him To prove that this was a morbid disease, was the disease of the brain, and not an ordinary belief in witchcraft, the following facts were prove. He believed that all women wére witches, and would not sleep on a bed made by a woman. He believed that persons at a distance could exercise an influence over his body and mind. He'believed that the Wiggins’ were in his teeth, and to dislodge them he had fourteen sound teeth extracted, evincing no suffering from the? operation. He believed that spells were laid for hiiyyand that he could be' bespelled if he made water óé the ground,^ he therefore carried a tin' cup in his pocket for the purpose of avoiding making water on the ground/ He had the quarters of his shoes cut off, saying that if the devil got into his feet he could drive him out the easier. He had holes cut on each side of his hat, so that if the devil came in on one side he could drive him out on the other. His constant dress was an Osnaburgh shirt, a negro cloth, short coat, breeches, and leggings. He always shaved his head close," as he said that in the contest with the witches they might not get hold of his hair, and to make his wits glib. He had innumerable swords of all sizes and shapes, fifteen or twenty in the Course of a year, which he was continually altering. One 'of his swords was four feet long, with two edges; another eleven inches wide by fourteen long, with a handle. They were made by a neighboringblacksmith, to enable him to fight the devil and witches with success. In the day time, neglecting his business, he dozed in ahollow gumlogforabed, in his miserable hovel; and at night kept awake Contending against the devil and witches. He fancied at one time that he had the devil nailed up in a fire place at one end, of his house ; and had a mark made across his room, over which he never would pass, or suffer it to be swept. He would some times send for all his negroes to throw dirt upon the roof of his house to drive off witches. He once performed a journey of several days, and was within half a day’s travel of the place where he was to do important business, when at night hearing the rats running in the loft, he got up, said the witches had followed him, and abandoning his business returned immediately home. All his maladies he attributed to the invisible influence of supernatural agency ; and when laboring under the gravel he believed the Wiggins’ had bewitched his penis, as was proved by Doct. Stewart, a witness examined by the executor. He believed that he had conversed with God; and said he had met him in the woods, and promised him that if he would let him get rich, he would live poor and miserable all his life ; and he seemed to have kept his promise. While he lived in Pedee swamp, he dwelt in a house worse than any of his negro houses. The approach to it was over the high fences of a stable yard. His hog-sty was directly before his door, out of which he had to step into the low door, which was not high enough to admit him erect. His bed was a split hollow gum log, with one or two blankets. In this gum he would some times keep three or four razors, and as many pistols. He had no chair or table in his house, nor platter, dishes, or plates. He used a forked stick. His meat was boar and bull beef, and dumplings, served up in the same pot in which it was boiled, placed on a chest, which answered him for both table and chair. From this pot he eat with a spoon, a knife, and a fork, or his forked stick ; all of which had been sent to the blacksmith and cut in two, a piece taken out, and then rivetted together again, to prevent spells. He drank his whiskey from a jug, having no tumbler. He would oof drink out of a tumbler after another person'to avoid harm. His clothes were of Ms own make. They had no buttons. The pantaloons were wide as petticoats, without any waistband, and fastened round him by a rope. His coat was rather a cloak, and his great coat a blanket, with a hole cut through it to re-* ceive his head. He was remarkably filthy, not cleaning his clothes for months. His saddle was a piece of a hollow gum log, covered with leather of his own make. A few years before his death he went to live with a Mr. Du-bose, in Darlington, who would not receive him into his family, but built a house for him about twelve feet square. He complained that it was too large, and Dubose gave him aid to pull it down and reconstruct it-to his own taste. He did so. It was three feet wide, five feet long, and four feet high. In this kénnel he eat, slept, and dozed away his time.
    In his younger days he had been brought up'in North Carolina among decent society, where he lived until he was about thirty years old. Here he discovered no very striking peculiarities of dress or manners or modes of thought. He dressed and behaved as others of his standing in society. - According to his account, about this time he was struck by lightning. He soon after removed to Georgia. Here he'-began to discover the peculiarities which ever after marked him; and here he killed a negro, for which he fled from that state. He always discovered great fear of lightning. While in this state he was easily alarmed without apparent cause. ■ Once he became greatly agitated by a wooden clock, fancied that it racked his body and mind, made a contract to purchase it for the purpose of destroying it, to get rid of the torment it produced, and afterwards rescinded the contract least it, might bring on a greater calamity. From the time he came to this state, which was some years before his death, the management of his property was most extraordinary. His overseers were examined, He had his ploughs and plantation tools made in such shape that they would not use them. He scarcely ever went to the plantation, but dozed away his days, and was awake almost all night beating and striking about the room. As evidence of his peculiarity in' the management of his affairs it was proved, that he suffered no bull or boar on his plantation to be castrated. But he cut off all the tails of his hogs and cattle close to the roots. Hé said the cows made themselves poor by fighting the flies with their tails, but cut them off and the cow would get fat as squabs. This was not a mere transient whim, he acted on it uniformly, so he always cut the ears of all his horses and mules close to the head. When he once purchased a horse from home, he instantly cut off his ears and mounted him while bleeding. He hoed his corn after frost, and said it would come out green again. His bargains and plans for making money were all peculiar, and generally losing. He gave long credits without interest. He sold one place for $7,000 to be paid in seventeen years without interest, and if the purchaser did not like his bargain at the end of that time he was at liberty to give it up without paying rent. He assigned as a reason for this bargain, that the land would not be worn out, and at the end of that time it would be worth ten times as much. He purchased towards the close of his life a large extent of poor, flat, pine land, without seeing it, and put his negroes there without a house or hut on it. They cleared and girdled the trees of two thousand acres, for the purpose he said, of planting it in pindars, (ground nuts,) by which he was to make a fortune, He suddenly abandoned it without ever planting an acre of it. He never was known to go to church. He took no interest in public affairs, never voted, or was required to do militia, patrol, or road duty. His peculiar opinions, extravagan-cies, and follies were held and exhibited both when sober and when drunk. He assigned various reasons for making his will, and not providing for his illegitimate sons or relations. His reason for not providing for one son was, that although he was a twin brother of the other, he was the father of only one of them. He stated as a' reason for leaving him nothing, that if he did the Wiggins’ would law him out of it, as they were determined to break his .will, and he must therefore leave it to South Carolina and Tennessee, who could defend the suit. The reason he gave for directing in his will that his negroes should be hired out in Tennessee for twenty three years, was, that by that time the present generation of Taylors’ and Wiggins’ (his relations,) would pass away, and these states would be able to raise money enough to contend with them for the property. When one of his wills was about to be executed, a witness was sent for, many miles, although there were many respectable persons present. The witness arrived about nine o’clock in the morning, when the will was. prepared and ready for signature, but Lee would not sign it till all present declared that it was past twelve o’clock. He assigned as a reason for making Tennessee a legatee, that he had relations gone there.— It did not appear he knew any person in that state, and therefore designated one of the first rate Baptist preachers of that state as his executor, without naming him.
    He wanted a coffin to be made of two inch oak plank, and like a seaman’s chest. "He once proposed to build a house to be four feet wide, with a chimney at the side.— He had a sulkey made. His directions were, to have the shafts exactly nine feet long, and the chair and seat to be square, the sticks of which were to be worked with a drawing knife, and not turned, and the cross bars to be made square. His wearing apparel at his death was appraised at one dollar.1
    ' In favor of the will a great number of respectable witnesses were examined as to the sanity of the testator.— They thought him sane and perfectly capable of mana-?fing his business, but that he was eccentric. Som& thought that his singularity was owing to avarice, and that his dress was owing to a species of affectation or pride, and that it diminished in the latter part of his life. He kept sober some two or three weeks before he made his will, for the purpose of executing it. Some thought him a fool when drunk, but quite intelligent when sober. The three witnesses who subscribed the execution of the will were respectable men, living near him, and knew him well; they swore positively to his capacity at t he time of its execution, and to the fact of his keeping sober lor that purpose. In his last illness he was asked by a witness if he did not believe in witchcraft, and he j ocosely proposed a mode of getting rid of the spell. Lee replied to him, “■ that he was not so credulous as to believe any such thing — that he knew his disease was the gravel, which would be the cause of his death.” Some thought him very keen in a bargain when sober. He made many contracts, some of considerable importance, and good ones, though often eccentric. Some of his contracts which at first appeared very foolish and eccentric, when explained turned out to be the best that could have been made.— i le declared over and over that his relations, the Wiggins’ should never have any of his property. He always believed that one of them had been at the head of a plot to seize him, and to take him to Georgia, to stand his trial for killing his negro. One witness swore to the truth of < he fact, and that Wiggins’ object was to get some of his property. This witness’ character was attacked. But Lee had been informed of the plan, and by his decided conduct had prevented it. He always believed that Wig- ;, ins was at the head of it, and was so informed. This led him to mistrust all his relations. He said that he would leave his natural son property, but that he could not stand his hand against the Wiggins’, who he dreaded might set aside the will, and get his property. He therefore pre; ierred giving it to the states, whom he thought would be better able to compete with the Wiggins’. His attorney, a gentleman of intelligence, who transacted a good deal of business for him at different times, thought liim perfectly sane when sober. When a young man he had been a good accountant, and several papers of his drawing were exhibited in evidence. They were very well executed. His natural son, whom he acknowledged, thought him sane, when sober. Some of the witnesses thought his ploughs were well constructed. Wiggins, the appellant, on one occasion had left the state, and Lee was appointed his attorney in his absence. He had also sold him a number of negroes.
    Waties, J. before whom the cause was tried, charged the jury, that the peculiar nature of the case made it one of great difficulty and some doubt. The issue between the parties, (said his honor,) was, whether the testator Mason Lee, was of sound mind or not, at the time he executed his will. The evidence consisted partly of examinations taken under commissions, and partly of oral testimony. The first is of witnesses in North Carolina, who described the early habits and conduct of the testator to have been generally as regular and correct as those of other young men, although manifesting occasionally some singularity ; also of witnesses in Georgia, (to which state he afterwards removed,) who testified that his mind and conduct had then undergone a great change, and betrayed strong marks of derangement. The witnesses who have been examined in court give a detailed account of his life from the time he came into this state until his death. The counsel for the appellant rest their allegation of his insanity on the following grounds : 1. His belief in witchcraft, and a supernatural agency. 2. His eccentric habits; and 3. His aversion to his relations. His honor was of opinion that a belief in witchcraft, although sometimes the symptom of a disordered mind, was not of itself any proof of it, as it had often been entertained by persons who were above all suspicion of insanity, and even by men who were distinguished for their wisdom. He thought also that the eccentricities of the testator might be traced to other causes than insanity. They exhibited indeed singular instances of personal privation, and of a distempered imagination. He was filthy in his dress, slept in a hollow gum, eat out of a pot with a broken spoon, and had no furniture in his house. He imagined himself engaged in a constant warfare with evil spirits, complained of their incessant assaults, and provided the strangest weapons for his defence. Such conduct if it stood alone, might verjr well be called insanity, but it appeared that he was most distracted with those phantoms when he was drinking a great quantity of ardent spirits, and that he was disposed at all times to be intemperate. It was proved too by a great number of respectable witnesses, that when sober he conversed sensibly on most subjects, that they regarded him as a very singular man, but not insane, that he made frequent contracts, many of which were to a considerable extent, and although some of them were whimsical, yet the result was generally advantageous to him; and these witnesses were all of opinion that he was perfectly competent to manage and dispose of his property. It was an important fact, that the appellant Wiggins had himself sold to him a number of negroes, and on leaving the state on some occasion had so much confidence in his discretion and judgment, that he had appointed him his attorney to manage his affairs in his absence.
    The third groundrelied on to show insanity was the aversion of the testator to his relations. This fact was fully proved, and if his relations had lived in friendly intercourse with him, and he had excluded them all from his will without anv cause, it might have been considered a strong indication of a perverted mind; but he assigned reasons for this exclusion, some of which appeared to be well founded, and to justify his belief that they had treated him ill, and particularly that Wiggins had conspired with others to have him seized and carried to Georgia, to answer to a criminal charge in that state. He did not therefore regard his aversion to his relations under these circumstances as any evidence of insanity.
    But the main question in the case was whether the testator was insane at the time of making his will. This was the issue to be tried, and he stated to the jury that the will could only be invalidated by proof of an existing insanity at the time of making it, or by its being so irrational an act as to afford intrinsic evidence of this. If a man had been found a lunatic, or might be considered so in the legal sense of the word, (that is non compos mentis,) all his civil acts were void, whether they could be traced to the malady or not, because his insanity has become á habitual state. But it was not (as was said by Lord Erskine in his celebrated speech for Hadfield,) every man of a frantic appearance and beháviour who is to be considered a lunatic, either as it regards obligations of crimes, but he must appear to the jury non compos mentis, not at the anterior period, but at the moment when the act was done. Coop. Med. Jurisp. 396. In the case of Cartwright vs. Cartwright, 1 Phil. 100, this doctrine was carried still further. u If (it was there stated by the court,) you can establish that a party habitually afflicted by the malady of the mind has intermissions, and if there was an intermission at the time of the act, that being proved is sufficient, and the general habitual insanity will not affect it.” Having presented to the jury these views of the law, he proceeded to consider the evidence which related more immediately to the making and execution of the will, and which he thought of most importance.
    It appeared to him to bring the testator’s case fully within the law before stated. The will was drawn by his direction, was transcribed from one which he had formally dictated, and was consistent with the previous and repeated declarations of his intention. He abstained from drinking any ardent spirits for two weeks before he executed it, that he might keep his mind collected for the purpose. The person who drew the will and the witnesses to the execution of it, all deposed to the perfect soundness of his mind at the time; and during his last illness which soon after ensued, on its being suggested to him in jest that he might be troubled by witches, he replied “ that he was not so credulous as to believe any such thing, that he knew his disease was the gravel, and that it would be the death of him.” There was so much deliberation and thought in all this, that even if the testator had been before afflicted with habitual insanity, yet this conduct was sufficient to establish a complete intermission. But it was contended, that the will itself spake the language of insanity. It could not be denied that it was a strange will, and if not the production of an insane mind, it was no doubt that of a very eccentric one. It might be regarded too as unjust to his illegitimate sons, if not to his other relations. But it was not therefore an irrational act in a legal sense, nor it was so eccentric or unjust as many other wills which had been made by men of unquestionable sanity. It was not as much so in either respect as the will of Thelusson, who had deprived his children and grand children of nearly all enjoyment of his immense estate, that it might accumulate for the benefit of a contingent and remote descendant who might never come into existence, and if he should not, for the benefit of the. sinking fund of. Great Britain. But his will was allowed to stand, because the law puts no restriction on a man’s right to dispose of his property in any way in which his partialities, or pride, or even caprice may prompt him, if he does not infringe any rule of policy. In the present case the testator appeared to have the double design of shewing his resentment to his relations, and of indulging in the ambitious vanity of having himself recognised by the states of South Carolina and Tennessee as their benefactor. He concluded his observations by stating to the jury, that in exercising their own judgment on this difficult and mysterious subject, if the testator was not proved to be insane by full and unequivocal evidence, they were bound to find in favor of his sanity. A rational state of mind is the natural state of every man, and until there is full proof of insanity the law presumes that every man is in a rational state when he does any act either civil or criminal. He further stated that in weighing the testimony the jury ought to take into consideration the number and character of the witnesses; and it appeared that of those who thought the testator insane the most material of them were his overseers, who only witnessed his conduct at home, when he was under the excitement of continual intoxication; on the other hand, that the witnesses who testified to his sanity were more in number, longer and more intimately acquainted with him, and from their education and condition in life must have had more discernment and were better qualified to judge of the true state and character of his mind.
    The jury found a verdict in favor of the will, and the heirs at law appealed.
    Ervin, Blanding and Harper, for the appellants, and Evans and Preston for the will.
    The council against the will relied principally on the ground of partial insanity, exhibited in his hatred to hi? gelations, and that laboring under that delusion he had disinherited them. That the grand defect of his mind was in relation to those objects that stood nearest to him by the laws of nature; and under this disease of the mind he made this singular disposition of his [property, and that this delusion must avoid the will. They principally relied on the authority of Lord Erskine’s argument in Had-field’s case.
    The counsel for the will contended that they had made out a case of sanity, but of great eccentricity, and that even admitting that Lee was generally unsound, yet they had clearly proved a lucid interval at the time of exeeu--ting the will and for two or three weeks previously thereto. They relied principally upon Cartwright vs. Cartwright, 1 Phillimore’s Rep. 90. White vs. Driver, lb. 84. Kinleside vs. Harrison 2 Phill. 454. Greenwood’s case, cited in White vs. Wilson, 13 Yes. 49. and Faul-der vs. Silk, 1 Coll, on Idiots 390.
   Curia, per

Nott, J.

There does not appear to be any such error in the charge of the presiding judge in this case, as calls for the interposition of this court. It was a mixed case of law and fact and both were fairly and correctly submitted to the consideration of the jury. And the evidence seems very well to have authorized the verdict which they have found. The motion is therefore refused.

New Trial Refused.