Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Opinion of the Court.

laws, to furnish information as to their private business affairs would often be seriously affected if the disclosures so made were not properly guarded. Besides, great confusion might arise in the business of the Department if the Secretary allowed the use of records and papers in the custody of collectors to depend upon the discretion or judgment of subordinates. At any rate, the Secretary deemed the regulation in question a wise and proper one, and we cannot perceive that his action was beyond the authority conferred upon him by Congress. In determining whether the regulations promulgated by him are consistent with law, we must apply the rule of decision which controls when an act of Congress is assailed as not being within the powers conferred upon it by the Constitution; that is to say, a regulation adopted under section 161 of the Revised Statutes should not be disregarded or annulled unless, in the judgment of the court, it is plainly and palpably inconsistent with law. Those who insist that such a regulation is invalid must make its invalidity so manifest that the court has no choice except to hold that the Secretary has exceeded his authority and employed means that are not at all appropriate to the end specified in the act of Congress.

In our opinion the Secretary, under the regulations as to the custody, use and preservation of the records, papers and property appertaining to the business of his Department, may take from a subordinate, such as a collector, all discretion as to permitting the records in his custody to be used for any other purpose than the collection of the revenue, and reserve for his own determination all matters of that character.

The judgment of the District Court is

Affirmed.

Syllabus.

ADAMS v. COWEN.

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT.

No. 113 of October Term, 1898. Argued January 10, 11, 1900.-Decided April 16, 1900. Thomas W. Means died in 1890, leaving a large estate, and a will made some ten years before his death, containing, among other provisions, the following: "Item 4. I give, devise and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my estate, personal, real and mixed, wherever situated or located, of which I shall die possessed, to be equally divided among my four children, John Means, William Means, Mary A. Adams, and Margaret A. Means, and my grandson, Thomas M. Culbertson (son and sole heir of my deceased daughter Sarah Jane Culbertson) who shall be living at the time of my decease, and the issue of any child now living, and of said grandson, who may then have deceased, such issue taking the share to which such child or grandson would be entitled if living. But said share given, devised and bequeathed to said grandson or his issue is to be held in trust as hereinafter provided, and to be subject to the provisions hereinafter contained as to said grandson's share. "Item 5. I have made advances to my said children which are charged to them respectively on my books, and I may make further advances to them respectively, or to some of them, and to my said grandson, which may be charged on my books to their respective accounts. I desire the equal provision, herein made for said children, and the provision for said grandson, to be a provision for them respectively, in addition to said advances made and that may hereafter be made, and that in the division, distribution and settlement of my said estate, said advances made and that may hereafter be made, be treated not as advances, but as gifts not in any manner to be accounted for by my said children and grandson, or any of them or the issue of any of them." He was in the habit of advancing money to his children, the amounts advanced to each individually being entered against him in the father's books. At the date of the will the several amounts so advanced were as follows: John, $79,214.36; William, $58,409.54; Mrs. Adams, $51,207.48; Margaret, $39,120.78; Mrs. Culbertson, $29,609.82. Subsequently, in 1898, William becoming involved, the amount advanced to him was largely increased in manner as set forth in the statement of the case and opinion of the court. After the death of the father a claim was made that the money thus paid out for William was to be held to be a part of his share of his father's estate. Held: (1) That in the absence of some absolute and controlling rule to the con

trary, the intentions of a testator, as deduced from the language of the will, construed in the light of the circumstances surrounding

Statement of the Case.

him at the date of its execution, always control as to the disposition of the estate;

(2) That the testator believed that after he had done in his lifetime what, in his judgment, his children severally required, there would be an abundance of his estate left for distribution, and intended that all dealings between himself and each of his children should be wiped out, and that what was left after having discharged to each his paternal obligation should be distributed equally.

After the probate of his father's will, William gave to the administrators of the estate with the will annexed, an acknowledgment of the receipt from them of $136,035.75 in his own notes to his father as part of his distributive share of his father's estate. At the time when this was done he was in straitened circumstances, was broken in spirit and was wavering in his purposes. Held, that while a man in the full possession of his faculties and under no duress may give away his property, and equity will not recall the gift, yet it looks with careful scrutiny upon all transactions between trustee and beneficiary, and if it appears that the trustee has taken any advantage of the situation of the beneficiary, and has obtained from him, even for only the benefit of other beneficiaries, large property without consideration, it will refuse to uphold the transaction thus accomplished; and that the conclusions of the Circuit Court of Appeals in this case must be sustained, and its decree affirmed.

ON November 16, 1891, the respondents, trustees for the wife and children of William Means, filed their bill in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Kentucky against the petitioners as administrators (with the will annexed) of Thomas W. Means, deceased, and John Means, a son of said Thomas W. Means. The case passed to hearing in that court upon pleadings and proofs, and resulted in a decree, on July 31, 1895, in favor of the defendants, dismissing the bill. From such dismissal the plaintiffs appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which court, on February 8, 1897, reversed the decree of dismissal, and entered a decree in favor of the plaintiff's. 47 U. S. App. 439-676. On May 24, 1897, a petition. was filed in this court for a certiorari, which was allowed, and on December 6, 1897, the certiorari and return were duly filed. At the October term, 1898, of this court, after argument and on May 22, 1899, the decree of the Circuit Court of Appeals was affirmed by a divided court. Thereafter upon petition a rehearing was ordered, and the case was argued at the present term before a full bench.

Statement of the Case.

The facts are these: Thomas W. Means, a resident of Ashland, Kentucky, died there on June 8, 1890, leaving an estate consisting chiefly of personal property, which was appraised (including the notes of his son, William Means, for $136,035.75) at $752,302.44. He left four children, John Means, William Means, Margaret A. Means and Mary A. Adams, and one grandson, Thomas M. Culbertson, the only child of a deceased daughter. Some ten years prior to his death, and on July 20, 1880, he made a will, in which, after provisions for the payment of his debts, funeral expenses and expenses of administration, were these two items:

"Item 4. I give, devise and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my estate, personal, real and mixed, wherever situated or located, of which I shall die possessed, to be equally divided among my four children, John Means, William Means, Mary A. Adams, and Margaret A. Means, and my grandson, Thomas M. Culbertson (son and sole heir of my deceased daughter Sarah Jane Culbertson) who shall be living at the time of my decease, and the issue of any child now living, and of said grandson, who may then have deceased, such issue taking the share to which such child or grandson would be entitled if living. But said share given, devised and bequeathed to said grandson or his issue is to be held in trust as hereinafter provided, and to be subject to the provisions hereinafter contained as to said grandson's share.

"Item 5. I have made advances to my said children which are charged to them respectively on my books, and I may make further advances to them respectively, or to some of them, and to my said grandson, which may be charged on my books to their respective accounts. I desire the equal provision, herein made for said children, and the provision for said grandson, to be a provision for them respectively, in addition to said advances made and that may hereafter be made, and that in the division, distribution and settlement of my said estate, said advances made and that may hereafter be made, be treated not as advances, but as gifts not in any manner to be accounted for by my said children and grandson, or any of them or the issue of any of them."

Statement of the Case.

Thomas W. Means was a prosperous iron manufacturer, who had, as stated, accumulated in his lifetime a large estate. For many years he had been in the habit of letting his children have money. This he had been doing for at least twenty-five years before the making of the will. This money was not given to them in equal sums at regular or irregular intervals. In other words, he was not making a partial, and equal distribution of his estate in advance of his death, but the money was paid to or for one or another of his children as occasion seemed to call for it. Accounts were entered with each of these children in his books, and the money thus paid to or for them was charged against them in these accounts, so that upon the face of the books they stood as debtors to him for the amounts so charged. The amounts thus charged were sometimes large. The accounts were often reduced by money or property returned to the father. So the father dealt separately with each child, letting him or her have money whenever in his judgment the interest of the child called for it. He was helping them in their business, paying their debts and otherwise using his large properties for their benefit. At the same time the accounts were kept in his books in such a way as to indicate that he retained a claim against each child for the balance shown on such account. He made memoranda on his books, such as this at the head of John's account: "This account and the accounts of William Means and Mary A. Adams are not to be charged with interest when final settlement is made, or at any time. Thomas W. Means." With that as the relation between himself and children, Thomas W. Means made the will containing the two items above quoted. He was then seventy-seven years old. At the date of the will the accounts showed the following debtor balances:

[blocks in formation]

In 1888 a bank in Cincinnati, of which William was president, failed, a failure which brought financial ruin to William. To

« AnteriorContinuar »