Coffin v. Argo

Citations

• 134 Ill. 276
• 24 N.E. 1068

Syllabus

<p>1. Impeaching decree—by infants—upon what grounds. A minor may maintain in this State a bill to impeach a decree against him, for fraud, or for error appearing upon the face of the record.</p> <p>2. Partition—sale—only after report of commissioners. In a proceeding for the partition of land, whether in equity or under the statute, it is an essential prerequisite to a decree of sale that commissioners shall have been appointed, and they report that the land is not susceptible of partition. Section 16 of the Partition act is mandatory, and when partition is sought by either mode, a decree for a sale is erroneous, unless based upon a report of commissioners.</p> <p>3. Trust—whether a trust arises—and in whose favor. The owner of certain lands conveyed the same, in parcels, to his sons and sons-in-law, the latter giving their notes in return, for a purchase price, with interest. Only so much of the interest was to be paid as might be needed by the grantor, and the principal not to be collected at all, but the notes to be surrendered to the makers at his death. Subsequently one of the sons-in-law desired the title to the land conveyed to him to be vested in his wife, to which the grantor assented, and in furtherance thereof the grantee mentioned, and his wife, conveyed to a third person, who at once executed and acknowledged a deed to the wife, but it was questioned whether that deed had ever been delivered. The original grantor surrendered to this son-in-law the notes he had received from him. On bill filed by the other heirs of the first grantor, it was held, that the grantee of the son-in-law mentioned, and his wife, held the title in trust for the latter, and not for the heirs, generally. It was not essential to the right of the cestui que trust that she should have given her notes in lieu of those which had been surrendered to her husband,—and especially was this true in view of the fact that the original grantor, for whose benefit, alone, the notes could have be