The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-04 00:00:00

ROLLS' COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

STEED V. CALLET.—JUDGMENT.
Lord LANGDALE, in giving judgment in this case, stated,
the plaintiff, Elizabeth Steed, in her character of residuary
legatee under the will of Richard Smith, deceased, filed bar
bill against Charles Calley, executor of the same will, and
Mr. Richard Van Heythusen, who, at the date of the will,
was a bond creditor of the testator ; and the bill prayed that it
might be declared the testator was prevailed upon by the
fraud, and under the influence of Calley, to accept from Van
Heythusen certain lands, in lieu of the bond debt, that Calley
might account for the rents, and that all necessary directions
might be given for placing the parties in the same situation in
which they would have stood if the transaction had not taken
place, orthat it might be declared the land ought to stand in place
of the bond, and be subject to the bequests of the plaintiff. The
case in its outline was this. Mr. Richard Smith, the testator,
had been for many years clerk to the late Lord Ellenborough,
under whose patronage he had obtained several lucrative
offices in the Courts of Law, from which he had derived a
considerable income, and became possessor of some indepen-
dent property. He had also been Governor of the Found-
ling Hospital. On the 29th of March, 1831, the testator
being entitled to a bond debt of 4,0001., payable to him at
a future day by the defendant, Van Heythusen, made his
will, and thereby among other bequests gave all monies which
shall be due to him on bond at the time of his death to the
plaintiff, and gave all the residue of his property to the de-
fendants. He appointed Van Heythusen and Calley joint-exe-
cutors of his will, but soon afterwards revoked the appointment
of Van Heythusen. On the 22d July he gave up Van Heythusen's
bond to be cancelled and inconsideration thereof Van Heythusen
executed a conveyance, whereby certain lands were conveyed
in substance to the use of the testator for his life, with re-
mainder to the defendant Calley in fee. The testator died by
his own hand on the 24th of July. Calley claimed the benefit
of the conveyance, but the plaintiff, who was the testator's
niece, insisted that having regard to the state of Mr. Smith's
mind and the confidential relation between him and Calley,
the transaction ought to be considered as fraudulent and void.
The bill alleged that the testator, from the period of his wife's
death, in October 1829, became extremely low-spirited and
nervous, which gradually increased, and that shortly after the
date of his will be was at times violently affected with pains in
his head, and was liable to fits of temporary derangement, and
that in this state of things Calley, who knew the contents of
the will, formed a scheme to avail himself of his influence on
the testator, and prevailed on him to call in payment of
Van Heythusen's bond, and to obtain from him in lieu
of the bond the estate in question in the cause. Calley
by his answer stated that the testator for several years
before the death of his wife, from his constant and assiduous
attention to his various duties, appeared to be nervous up to
the time of her death ; and that after her death, at which he
was much affected, he was low spirited up to the day of his
own death, but denied that the testator became in any manner
deranged in his intellects, or was liable to fits of mental de-
rangement, or had any other bodily infirmity than men were
accustomed to have at the testator's period of life. He also
denied that he knew the contents of the will and codicil, and
that the testator had executed such, and insisted that the trans-
action as to Van Heythusen's bond and conveyance, was dic-
tated by the testator himself, and was in entire conformity
with his intentions, he being at the time of sound mind, and
perfectly understanding what he was about. His Lordship
then, in a very elaborate manner, went through the evidence,
from which it appeared, that in July, 1830, an Act of Parlia-
ment passed for regulating the appropriation of foes and emo-
luments receivable by officers of the superior courts of com-
mon law, and under that Act Commissioners were appointed
to inquire into the arrymnt and legality of the fees claimed by
the officers, which preyed considerably on the mind of the
testator. On the morning of the 24th of July, 1831, the
testator committed suicide, and the Coroner's Jury found that
LA bad shot himself, being at the time in a state of mental
derangement. That he was then insane was not disputed, but
it was contended that the derangement was a sudden inflic-
tion, and that until then he was never subject to any
mental disorder. His Lordship had read the whole of the
evidence carefully, and it appeared to him that in the
transaction of ordinary business Mr. Smith, in many in-
stances, appeared to be, and conducted himself as a
man of sound mind would be expected to do ; but apparent
sanity on some or many occasions was no proof that the
mind might not be insane. The ordinary habits of society,
or the exertion required for the transaction of business, might
rouse the mind, and prevent it from brooding on melancholy
thoughts, and an insane man might conduct himself rationally
in society, or transact business, so long as nothing occurred to
call up those notions which indicated insanity. Generally
speaking, the law presumed sanity, and if it was not impeached,
no evidence was required to support it. Upon a consideration
of all the facts proved, the inference justly deducible from
them, in his Lordship's opinion, was, that notwithstanding
many acts of sanity, the mind of the testator, up to the day of
his death, was known by Caney to be seriously disordered ;
and his opinion also was, that the state of his mind was un-
sound. If the result of the case, as affecting Mr. Calley, de-
pended on the question, whether Mr. Smith was or was not of
unsound mind at the time the transaction took place, he
should have directed an issue to try the fact, but the state of
Mr. Smith's mind was to be considered in relation to his con-
fidence in Calley, and a sufficient ease was made out to ren-
der it incumbent on his Lordship to declare the transaction of
purchasing the estate, so far as related to the beneficial inte-
rest in Caney ought to be laid aside. It was not necessary to
conclude that Calley meditated a direct fraud against the
plaintiff, and it did not appear to his Lordship that any impu-
tation rested on Mr. Van Heythusen, who was wholly igno-
rant of the state of Mr. Smith's mind. The decree his Lord-
ship should make would be to declare the defendant Cally to
have held the estate from the time of the death of the testator
as trustee—that he should account for the rents and profits
of the estate, and to convey the same to the plaintiff, as she
should appoint—all four parties to join in the conveyance.
The COURT then proceeded to hear exceptions.