The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-04 00:00:00

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HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 1, 1830.

.01°BIRT GORDON, =Q., OF LARGLANGLIE, WRITER,

XIRCUDBRICHT, AND °TRIMS, •PPELLANTS.

34183 MARY ISROWN, LATELY RESIDING AT THE NE': HER.

WOOD, NOW AT LAWEICKNOWE, NEAR. DUMFRIV., RE.

sroNnExT.
(Copy from Mr. Gurney's Short-hand Notes.)
LORD CHANCELLOR--My Lords, there was a case
argued some time since at your Lordships' Bew, in ..which
Robert Gordon and others, the trustees of John Brown,
we're the appellants ; and Miss Mary Brown was Oue re-
spondent. This, my Lords, was a case of an appeal from
certain interlocutors of the Lord Ordinary, and the first
division of the Coutt of Session in Scotland. The main
question in the cause arose out of the will of William
Brawn, who appeared to be by birth a Scotcliman, but
he had resided a considerable time at Lynchburgb, in
Virginia, being domiciled in that country; he bad made hie
will in 1805, and died in the year 1811. By that will
he bequeathed as follows :—" To my father and mother,
James and Margaret Brown, I leave one-fourth share of
the balance of my estate to them or the survivor of them.
To nay sister, Jean Muir, I leave one-fourth *hare of the
balance of my estate, at her death to be squally divided
between her children. To my sister, Isabella Black, I
leave one-fourth share of the remainder of my estate, to be
at her death equally divided between her children. To
zny sister, Mary Brown (who is the respondent), I leave
the remaining one-fourth share of the balance of my estate,
at her death to be equally divided between her children,
Should she have any." James Brown was the grandfather
of John Brown. John Brown was the illegitimate son
of the younger son of James Brown, ty Margaret, his
wife. James Brown, in the year 1815. by a deed exe-
cuted by himself, and by Margaret, conveyed to John
Brown all hie interest in the one.fourth share that he had
tinder the will of William Brown, his son, together with
any other interest that he might be entitled to under that
Will, or together with any other interest that he may he
entitled to in right of representation or otherwise of his
eon William Brown. I think he died in the year 1815,
and after his death, in the year 1817, Margaret Brown,
Who was his widow, executed a deed of confirmation of
the former deed of disposition of the property made by
her, jointly with her husband, James Brown.
Some time after the death of William Brown a suit was
instituted in the Chancery Court of the Virginia district
an America by the present respondent and one of her
sisters, Jean Muir, who was one of the residuary legatees
under the will. In that suit, in the month of May, 1916,
a decree was pronounced, and the decree, as far as it is
necessary to state it, or to advert to it, for the-purpose of
the present cause, was in these terms. It deemed " that
in consideration of the premises, the Court is of opinion
that Jean Muir, ono of the sisters and one of the plain-
tiffs in that suit, Mary Brown, and Isabella. Black,
by . the will of the slid William Brown, the ex-
hibit referred to, are entitled to one-fourth of the
estate remaining of the said William Brown, after the pay-
ment of the just debts and the legacies, amounting to 10,000
dollars, bequeathed to others; but that the payment of the
share of the said Jean Muir and Isabella Black, " both
of them having children," ought not to be made unless
security be given that at their respective deaths their
said shares should be divided amongst their children,
GS provided
by the will of the testator, and doth accord-
ingly adjudge, order, and decree, " that the defendants,
Archibald Robertson and William Black, surviving exe-
cutors of the said William Brown, do pay to the said
Mary Brown one-fourth part of the residuary estate of
the testator ; and to the said Robert Muir and William
Black, in right of their respectia e wives, each one-fourth
of the said residuum, upon their severally executing, in
person or by their attorney, bond to be deposited with
the Clerk of the Court, payable to the surviving executors,
in the penalty each of 70,000 dollars, with condition that
at the death of their said wives their legacies shall be di-
vided amongst their children." So that, according to
this decree, as far as related to the present respondent,
she having no children, it was directed that she should
have her one-fourth share of the residue paid to her
41 4°14111Y- As far u related to the other sisters, they
having children, and with reference to the terms of the
will, it was directed that the executor should pay them
also their fourth shares, or that he should pay their
husbands the fourth share, on security being given that on
their deaths those shares should be divided among their
ehildren agreeable to the dispositions of the will. This
decree was pronounced in the month of May, 1816.
In the month of October, in the same year, a power of
attorney was executed by the present respondent, Mary
Brown, authorising John Brown, and Robertson, one of
the executors, to receive on her account the money that
she should be entitled to under the will of the testator;
and, in pursuance of that power of attorney, and in con-
formity with the decree to which I have adverted, the
money was afterwards to the amount, I believe, of be-
tween Four and Five Thousand Pounds, the precise
amount is not material, paid over to John Brawn es
the attorney for Mary Brown. It seems, therefore,
extremely difficult to say that Mary Brown is not,
under these circumstances, entitled io an account
against John Brown for the money he has so received—
money received in pursuance of a decree of a competent
Court in America, pronounced upon the subject of this
Will in a suit instituted for that purpose, directed to be
paid over and received by John Brown, under a power of
attorney for that purpose, from Mary Brown, It is said,
however, on the part of the appellants, that Mary Brown
was entitled only to a life-interest. in this property,
and that she being entitled only to a life-interest
in this property that the residue was disposed of, and that
it would pass therefore to James Brown, the father, and
and through that father, by virtue of the disposition to
which I hare adverted, namely, the settlement made by
him and Margaret Brown, the subsequent confirmation b Margaret Brown, that it would pass to John
Brown
fory
construc-
tion purpose of establishing that that was the true •
;
tion of the will a document wasr offered in evidence,
opinion of an-English lawyerupeonntelntactets.NubLei,and tablet
English lawyer undoubtedly
of nil
but the Court in Scotland justly observed,
that3country,
nothing to do with the law of England,
- was no evidence in the cause to shew that the law of Vir-
giuia corresponded with the law of England with regard
to_ the matter in question, with respect to the rules b
hi c 'II au instrument of that kind was to be construed,y
W
and therefore they paid no attention to the opilion relied
upon on the part of the appellants.
It was further urged, and a petition was presented for
that pure, that the opinions of American lawyers of that
particularef district of America should be taken, for the
guiding the consideration of the case • the Court
rcun.gwrhet vie; orrefejeeecttieid„..
that
petition,. and I think' they were
of this
case.
Tulle or petition, under the circumstances
tion of the will hadqueetion with respect to the construe-
year ISI6 the been before the Court in America.
In the
went as to the construyetio
hadt: pronounced in effect a judg-
creed that My
tra of that will, for they had de-
arhad ;n was entitled absolutely to this
Property, they
her, arid it veal
directed that property to be paid to
hpaid accordingly to her agent, appointed
by her to receive that which she was entitled to under the
will ; it seemed
pas:sdipaofnt
eertszelocnagtherefore, under these circumstances,
an interval of time, not right again to
evidence as to thu"for the purpose of taking further
waslt urged areal and proper construction of the will.
ibleamb
to uwnads owever, that John Brown ought not to
lumypothna'tthdecision, he was a party to that suit, his
his absence, ew: record,
but the decree was made in
pronounced.
dilsthion Scotland at the time the decree was
cannot be
r. d u9h. sitting here your Lordships
is . :se prectsely of what the law of America
at
Wtliiias.rtspect_, yet it is not unreasonable to suppose
th
John Brown alleged is correct, that the decree
being made in his absence he might have gone to America
sod obtained a rehearing of that decree; but it i 5 not sug-
papers,that.
geated th
Jolla Brown was not apprised
of that decree et the time it was pronounced in the year
1816 ; he lead
received from the executor the money under
that deerpertadeee., h.e had taken no steps front the year 1816 for
therefore, years,..firteznh to call that decree in question, and
t take the Court below rightly judged that
Ally Lords, th
gees„ju4
and that decree as the foundation of their
decide accordingly.
which I
shad
beere was another point also insisted upon, to
mutated that Mar g leave also shortly to advert. It was
in fact only
ehtrtißrown had herself admitted that she was
facts of the case, :11 to a life interest of this property. Ihe
shortly theee ; far as they relate to this point, are very
was in Eng/and. Part of the property of William Brown
was taken out b
Y
to that Prop Administration, with the will annexed,
er
14 et Brown, the mother, in regard
erty,
discharging ii4ir.r:• r the sumplus of that property, after
hand
Paid
over _ , /unmated tu1,650/., and that 1,6501.
and, of joh:°ll,nii Brown, or rather was paid into the
tics tcok place, a :wo• At the time when that transae-
ri alarm
zb.ow need was executed between John Brown
oubtedly stated n ; in the recital of that, it was un-
life interest, float as .
Merest, „d sly Brown was entitled only to a
in this property to
J• r
akeounied the whole of her interest
ditri lof "1, Pi.ft Browse for an annuity during
on, tan taut annifit ounds, with this clause and con-
the time that she residYetildlould be payable to her during
case orr behalf of the e with him. It is a Fait of the
01
weak
understanding: N liable to
that she was a woman
to be cotuteculled, and go-
.

verned, and imposed upon, by persons round her ; and
these circumstances, to which it is unnecessary for me to
advert at present with respect to her having gone away
with a man of inferior tondition of life, imposed upon,
and induced to enti r into a marriage afterwards consi-
dered null by the Court of Scotland, to which I wit; not
particularly advert ; but it is quite evident that she was a
woman of weak understanding, and the Court below judged
that transaction to be a fraud, practised upon her by John
Brown, and not growing out of the deed itself. The
1,650/. was, by the terms of the deed, to be absolutely
w•signed to John Brown, in consideration of the equivalent
of only 50/. a year, that payment of 501. to be suspended
in the event of her not residing with John Brown ; I
think the Court therefore judged tightly, in considering,
this transaction as fraudulent, and that the recitals in the
deed ought sot in any degree to operate to the prejudice
of Mary Brown, My Lords, I think, under these cir-
cumstances, your Lordships will be disposed, as to this
part of the case, to think that the Court of Session
came to a right conclusion, in considering that John
Brown, and afterwards his trust. es upon his death,
were liable to account for t:e money which had been so
received from the executors of William Brown, under the
will to which I have adverted. My Lords, there were other
.coordinate points in the cause consisting of matter of
detail in the progress of it, particularly with respect to the
mode of taking the account as to the allowances to be
made on the one side and the other, as to the costa, as to
the charges, and other matters of that description, which
were argued at great length at your Lordship? Bar.
I confess at the time the argument was going on I enter-
tained little doubt as to the propriety of the decision of
the Court of Session as to those matters. I have
since looked through the whole, and I see no reason
to depart from the opinion I entertained at the time, I
shall therefore, under these circumstances, humbly re-
commend to your .Lordships that the judgment of the
Court of Session, consisting of tiese various interlo-
cutors pronounced by the first division of the Court of
Session should be affirmed, and under the circumstances
of this case, with your Lordship? permission, I would re-
commend that they should be affirmdd with certain costs.
Judgment affirmed, with 501. costs.

LITERATURE.

DR. LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPIEDIA.

LONDON', 1830.

The fourth volume of this valuable periodical
has just made its appearance, being the second
volume of Sir Walter Scott's History of Scot-
land, to which vte shall confine our observations,
as the first volume must be well known, and if
we may judge by the reported extent of its sale
(10,000 copies) thoroughly appreciated. The
volume now before us is pregnant with interest
and novelty. It contains matter which has
been unsparingly dealt with by an innumerable
host of literary characters. The poet, the dra-
matist, the biographical vindicators, have all used
the events of Scottish annals for their several
purposes. But we have in this volume a book
which may vie with the dramatists, the poets,
the vindicators, for interest, and which transcends
them all in intrinsic worth and originality. It
commences with a description of the convulsed
state of Scotland during the minority of James
V., whe❑ the Reformers had scattered the
seeds of civil discord through the nation ; the
author describes them assuming an authority that
rendered the power of the Monarch very limited
indeed. After the death of James V., during
the Regency of Mary of Guise, and the mino-
rity of Mary Queen of Scots, the growing power
of the Reformers is described in a manner that

few could do justice to, except Sir Walter.
After the demise of Mary of Guise, Scotland be-
ing without a Sovereign or Regent, the Reformers
were driven to the necessity of soliciting Mary,
Francis being dead, to accept the fatal crown,
which fell to her by inheritance. Thus we
are prepared for evil consequences, for what could
be expected ? When we consider Mary, a rigid
inflexible Roman Catholic, brought to the
throne by the solicitations of a body of stern
Presbyterians and profligate Ministers, and ar-
riving at a period when the very air was infected
with rebellion and discord. The following
extract will illustrate the state of the country, at
least the religious feelings of it, on her arrival :
" As Mary made her solemn entry into Edin-
burgh, she was conducted under a triumphal
arch, when a boy came out of a hole, as it were
from Heaven, and presented to her a Bible, a
Psalter, and the Keys of the Gates, with some
verses now lost, but which we may be sure were of
a Protestant tendency." Such was the mockery
and insult that preluded her unhappy reign. Dur-
ing the melancholy story of Mary's career, we
get a side view of Elizabeth, which is, as a
stolen glance into the domestic life of an illus-
trious personage, whose public character is un-
impeachable, but whose private is that of the
wolf, having thrown off, for domestic comfort,
the lamb's skin. Our author gives her character
as follows :—" It may be said of Elizabeth, that
if ever there was a Monarch whose conduct
seemed according to the speech of the old
heathen, to he governed alternately by two souls
of a very different disposition and character, the
supposition might be applied to her. Pos-
sessing more than masculine wisdom, magnani-
mity, and fortitude on most occasions, she be-
trayed, at some unhappy moments, even more
than female weakness and malignity." This
work will make its way through every path of
civilized society as long as history exists. Such
histories must do more good with regard to the
acquirement of knowledge than any other plan
that could be adopted. With it the learned will
be fascinated, and the unlearned both charmed
and instructed.