Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-26
CALAMITIES AND
SURVIVORSHIP LAW
Important Questions Which Fol-
low Great Disasters Where En-
tire Families Are Wiped Out
BY JOHN J. SULLIVAN, IL. D.


Author OF "Ponnsylvania Business Law
7 oNG after Halifax and Guatemala will
IL have resumed former ways OF life. long
after the wrecked buildings viii have been
replaced there will be some consequences ot
the recent calamities which will still continue
TO affect the lives and the fortunes of the
survivors. One OF these consequences, involv-
ing the law Of survvorship. is to be found
In the wake Of almost every disaster which
causes widespread death.
The legal question thus raised presents
Itself when two or more members Of tho
same family perish together without evidence
AS TO which died first. Suppogr an accident
causes the death of wealthy old man who
has been living with his son and tho lattcra
wife. suppose the son and the daugNtcr-in.
law die at or about the same time as "A
result or the same accident and leave no
children lf ii can he proved that the son
survived his father by even "A fraction uC n
second, provisions IN the fathers win in
favor OF the son will iuurc 10 the benefit
OF the sons estate. Likewise. Il the father
died without a win the sons share OF Lis
fathers estate uudU the intcstatc laws
passes e. the sons estate. And ir the sou'a
wife survived her husband by even a frar-
ton OF second the share which she, II
still alive could claim i'm her husbands estate
wcdld nurc to the benefit Of her own estate
l'crhaps the son has made will leaving
everything TO his wife. So. probably, by
reason Of the son surviving his father 10y
lrW moments ana the sons wife SurNiN Ing
him 10y au equally brief space of time a large
part, il not all, of the old mans property
would pass to his dauEhtCr-iu-laWS estate
and thence to her relatives
on the other hand. il tho survivorship
were the other way. altogether different re-
suits would probably follow. That Is TO say,
If tho wife should die moment before her
husband his estate would receive all or "a
large portion Of her property. Aud II the
son were survived by his father the latter's
all -
the so. 5 property. and thence perhaps some
distant cousins Of the father would get the
benefit a. all three estates.
From he foregoing it viii he seen how
important it is in such cases 10 prove the
fact of SUI ,ivorshp Vast fortunes may be
staked upon the determination as to whether
husband survived wife or wife survived
child O. child survived parent
Difficulties in Reaching Decisions
What principles are there 10 guide i'm the
decision Of such eases? Tho eases involving
these principles have been decided in conncc.
tiou with disasters IN the past whore mcm-
hcrs of the same family have perished to-
gcthcr at or about tn" same time Thus the
sinking OF the French liner Ia BouryoCne
tho Titanic and tho Iusitauia produced a
crop Of similar eases Tho Irouuos Theatre
fire in Chicago, the Fair automobile accident
I'm France the JohnStoWn and tho Galveston
floods. the San Francisco earthquake Sir John
Fraulln's il-fatcd expedition TO tho Arctic
regions, as well as various murders and mas.
Sdvrcs, battles, the collapse uf building ~
phOOus. volcanic cruptions aud other dcvaata-
tious-.al these have contributed to the list
or cases which throw light on the present
legal situation in connection with the IIaliCa\
horror.
The difficulty which presents itself i'm mort
of these cases arises from the fact that tho
rNCWitncsSCs to tho transaction" under i'm.
uIry are themselves cnEulfcd i1 tho common
disaster and do not live to give their tosti-
mouy IN many such eases tn only thing
known is that several members Of the Same
family have persisted together. How. them
can wc decide to distribute their estates"
There are many old decisions under tho
civil law which governs most European cuuu-
tries made on tho basis Of certain prc-
sumptiOns Of SurviVorship. For instance if a
man and his wife we're drowned in a shin
wreck, both being i'm tho primo Of life, the
Judges usually raised the ungaIlaut prc-
sumption that the male would survive tho fc.
haIC. But If it were proved that the hlIy-
band Was au invalid ana unable 10 swim,
Whtlc tho wife WAS a prOtOtypc oC Miss olga
Ooriucr or Miss Claire Galligau, an equally
ungallant presumption would be raised that
the woman had contrived To keep alive after
her husbands death. Likewise there was a
presumption that n person in the prime Of
INC would survive an infant or an aged pcr-
son. Thus in a case where it appeared that
mother ana her son were hanged on the
same gdlluwS, the son was presumed to
nave lived louGcr than tho mother because Of
difference iu age aud sex. Needles to say
this presumption would have Yielded tn di-
rect pi"of thnt a spark of life remained ia
the mother after tho sons death but in this
as IN many other Cnacs no direct proof was
available.