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

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's judgment, holding that a surrogate's decree refusing probate of a will of real property is not res judicata as to the validity of the devise, that a devisee's participation in probate does not waive a constitutional right to a jury trial on the title, and that title to real property vests by the instrument itself independent of probate. The court rejected the appellants' arguments and upheld the jury's verdict in favor of the devisee. A dissent argued that the surrogate's decree should have been admitted as presumptive evidence and that the two trials were effectively one.