Graves v. Colwell

Citations

• 90 Ill. 612

Syllabus

<p>1. Conveyance—presumption as to grantee when father and son have the same name. Where a father and son have the same name, and a conveyance of land is made without designating whether to the father or the son, the law will presume that the father was intended for the grantee, in the absence of proof to the contrary.</p> <p>2. Same—burden of proof as to grantee. Where a' deed is made to one of two persons of the same name, being father and son, it devolves on the party claiming under the son to introduce evidence sufficient prima facie to overcome or rebut the presumption of law that the grant is to the father, and thereby the onus will be shifted to the party claiming under the father, and he will be bound to produce proofs sufficient to overcome or at least equal in probative force the case of the adverse party.</p> <p>3. Presumption op raw—its value when rebutted. Where a rebuttable presumption of law is overcome by proofs, and the burden shifted, then the conflicting evidence on the question of fact is to be weighed, and a verdict in civil cases rendered in favor of the party whose proofs have most weight; and in this process the presumption of law loses all that it had of mere arbitrary power, and is of value only as it has probative force, except it be that on the entire case the evidence is equally balanced, in which event the arbitrary power of the presumption of law will settle the issue in favor of the proponent of, the presumption.</p> <p>4. Same—value as evidence. In an evidential aspect, a given presumption of law may have either more or less of probative value, dependent upon the character of the presumption itself and upon the circumstances of the particular case. Some legal presumptions are more probable and inherently stronger than others, and so differing circumstances may give differing degrees of probability to one and the same legal presumption.</p> <p>5. Evidence—degree to authorize a finding of an issue. In civil actions neither party is req