Rose Corley, Appellant v. James McElmeel, Appellants, and Annie E. Stover, Respondents

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the General Term, holding that a surrogate's decree refusing probate of a will devising real property is not res judicata and does not waive the devisee's constitutional right to a jury trial on the validity of the devise. The court also reaffirmed that title to real property vests in the devisee independently of probate. A dissent argued that the surrogate's decree should have been admitted as presumptive evidence of invalidity. (Bartlett, J., dissenting).