Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/307

HiMMOKD, D. J. This case is submitted for the conëtrud* tion of a deed from Nancy Boon toher sohs, whereby she côn'- Teys to them a tract of land "for and in consideration of the love and affection that I have for my soïis, and the iurther consideration of the assistance they have rendered me since the death of my husband." There is no proof obtainable of the character of the assistance rendered by the sons, nor of the estent of it, but it is agreed by the parties that if the deed on the face of it imports a deed of gift without valuable and adequate consideration, the grantees took a succession liable to the tax imposed by the internai revenue act of June 30, 1864, (13 St. 288,) and the United States is entitled to recover the land in this action of ej ectment against the defend- ant ia possession. �The succession tax cannot be defeated by reciting a nom- inal consideration which would be deemed valuable in the technical sense of that ter m, for the act of congress sayg the consideration must not only be valuable but adeqiuUe, ,Cha.n- cellor Kent says that notwithstanding the high moral obliga- tion of a chUd to support a parent, there is no legal obliga- tion to do it. 2 Kent. 208. And while it is true that the law implies no promise on the part of the parent to pay for necessaries, and in the absence of a contract to do so willnot presume one, there is no doubt that such a contract may be a valuable and adequate consideration to support a deed «f bargain and sale. Lynn v. Lynn, 29 Pa. St. 369 ; Keeler v. Baker, 1 Heisk. 639. �I think it is plain, from the recital of this deed, that there •was some other consideration than bare love and affection, and, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the recital of it imports that it was, in the sense of the law, sufficiently valua- ble and adequate to take the case out of the category of a deed of gift. If the recital of the further consideration ap- peared on the face of it to be nominal only, the ruling would be otherwise ; but it does not so appear. The assistance may bave been of a kind which would find no adequate compensa- tion in the transfer of this land, or it may have been very slight. The grantor seems to bave appreciated it, and, in the ����