Guild v. Hull

Citations

• 127 Ill. 523
• 20 N.E. 665

Syllabus

<p>1. Ohahcebt—determining the facta—power and duty of the chancellor—trial hy jury—whether verdict conclusive or merely advisory. In chancery cases, except where the submission to a jury is required by the law or the rules of chancery practice, the chancellor is the judge of the weight of the evidence and of the ultimate facts established by it.</p> <p>2. If the chancellor, in an ordinary, chancery suit, submits controverted questions of fact to a jury, as he may do, the verdict or finding of the jury is advisory, only. He may adopt the verdict, or set the same aside and re-submit the question to another jury, or he may disregard the verdict and enter such a decree as, in his judgment, equity demands. He may enter his decree after setting the verdict aside, or without setting it aside.</p> <p>3. Where the chancellor submits to a jury the questions of the sanity of the maker of a deed, and undue influence in procuring the execution of the deed, and the jury finds that the maker was not sane and the fact of undue influence, and the chancellor enters a' decree setting aside the deed “pro forma, and pro forma only,” this will preclude the idea or presumption that he acted upon his own judgment of the truth of the allegations upon which the deed is set aside, and will be error, as the parties are entitled to the judgment of the chancellor and his consideration of the evidence, notwithstanding the verdict.</p> <p>4. Sake—decree upon verdict—questions of evidence and instructions arising. Where a decree is based upon the verdict of a jury alone, and not upon the independent judgment of the chancellor, it will be reversed if the finding of the jury was the result of, or was influenced by the admission of, improper evidence or improper instructions. In such case, the effect is the same as though the decree was based on improper evidence or a misconception of the law.</p> <p>5. Sake—submitting questions of fact to a jury—in chancery—propriety of so doing. In cases where the