Manley v. Pattison

Citations

• 73 Miss. 417

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence. Presumption of death. Seven years absence. Statute construed. Code 1892, $1737.</p> <p>Section 1737, code of 1892, wherein it is provided that ‘ ‘ any person who shall remain beyond the sea, or absent himself from this state, or conceal himself in this state, for seven years successively, without being heard of, shall be presumed to be dead, in any case where his death shall come in question, unless proof be made that he was alive within that time,” does not justify a presumption of the death of three infant devisees who, at the time of their departure from their last known residence in this state, about eleven years before trial, were of very tender years, the eldest being only seven years old, and who disappeared along with their mother.and stepfather, the last named being at the time under apprehension of a criminal prosecution.</p> <p>2. Same. Burden of proof. Sufficiency of evidence.</p> <p>Where a presumption of the death of the persons sought to be affected does not arise under g 1737, code 1892, in view of their number and their youth at the time of their disappearance, together with their subjection to the will of others, and their incapacity to absent themselves from, or conceal themselves within, the state, the burden of proving their death is on him who asserts it, and is not met by the testimony of one or two witnesses who had learned from others that the persons inquired of had onee lived in a certain town of the state, and had not been heard of since their removal, about eleven years previous to trial, there being- no evidence that such other persons resided in the town named, and none of any sufficient and reasonable effort to trace the persons inquired of.</p>