Munroe v. Carroll

Citations

• 80 Fla. 206
• 86 So. 193

Syllabus

<p>,1. In a suit in equity against the representative of a deceased person to declare an instrument in the form of a deed of conveyance absolute to be a mortgage, the complainants are not competent witnesses in said suit to testify as to any transactions or communications occurring between them and the said deceased person.</p> <p>2. Section 1505, General Statutes of Florida, 1906, relating to the competency of witnesses as affected by interests is an enlargement and not a restricting of the common law rule and removed the common law disability of a witness arising from interest in the event of litigation except in those cases when 'one of the parties to the transaction or communication was at the time of the examination dead or insane.</p> <p>3. Where under the provisions of Section 2494, General Statutes of Florida, 1906, complainants in a suit against the representative of a deceased person seek to show that a deed absolute in form executed by them was in fact a mortgage the testimony of the complainants concerning their relations with the grantee during his life time, involving communications and transactions with him by which they seek to establish the character of the instrument as a mortgage is not admissible under any exception at common law to the rule prohibiting a party in interest from testifying in a cause.</p>