INTEREST IN LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17843, 26 July 1921, Page 6

INTEREST IN LAND.

SISTER VERSUS BROTHER.

COURT DISMISSES APPEAL. fET TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION-.] WELLINGTON. Monday The Court of Appeal gave judgment today in an appeal from a decision of Mr. Justice Cooper in the case of Mabel Mountain v. W. A. Styak/ W. A. Styak (plaintiff in the Court belowj, claimed half-interest with his sister, Mabel Mountain, in a piece of land in the township of Shortland. Plaintiff claimed that the land was transferred to his mother by his grandmother upon trust for herself and her husband during their lives, and after their deaths for plaintiff and his sister, Mabel Mountain, in equal shares. "Defendant, Mabe! Mountain, denied there was any trust in'favour of plaintiff •Styak, and asserted, further, that if there was any such trust that there was no evidence of it in writing in accordance with the Statute of Frauds-. She claimed the whole property as sole beneficiary under her mother's" will'.

Mr. Justice Cooper gave judgment for plaintiff, and from this decision the appellant, Mabel Mountain, appealed. Mr. Justice Adams delivered the judgment of the Court. This stated that the opinion of the .Court was that the language in a letter written by the grandmother of the parties to the action waa sufficient to create a trust- He stated, further, that a writing signed by a trustee acknowledging the trust was sufficient to enable the Court to enforce the trust against him. The appeal was therefore dismissed with costs on the highest