SHARON v. HILL. » 3
fraud, if fraud there be. The right to several millions of property
might be, in after years, affected and controlled by reason of the al-
leged fraud. A great wrong and injustice may be thus perpetrated
in consequence of it, unless a court of equity can take hold of and
cancel it. , There is no way, by an action at law, that weare aware
of, to meet the conditions, or effectually dispose of this instrument.
We are satisfied from the authority we shall cite, and numerous other
authorities to the same effect, that this is a proper case for equitable
relief, if the allegations in the bill be true; and, for the purposes of
the demurrer, their truth is admitted.
We think this case is within the rule that is often laid down on this
subject. Story, in his work on Equity Jurisprudence, § 700, after
speaking of various instruments that may be used for fraudulent or
improper purposes, and which may be canceled by a court of equity
on the ground of fraud, says:
"If it is a more written agreement, solemn or otherwise, still, while it ex-
ists, it is always liable to be applied to improper purposes, and it may be liti-
gated at a distance of time when the proper evidence to repel the claim may
be lost or obscured, or when the other party may be disabled from contesting
its validity with as much ability and force as he can contest it at the present
time." ·
Story says further, in section 701: j
" The whole doctrine of courts. of equity on this subject is referable to the
general jurisdiction which it exercises in favor of a party quia timet. It is
not confined to cases where the instrument, having been executed, is void
upon grounds of law and equity, but it is applied, even in cases of forged
instruments which may be decreed to be given up without any prior trial at
law, on the point of forgery. " .
If this instrument is not void upon its face, then its validity de-
pends upon testimony aliunde, and testi nony which rests wholly in
pmol, which is liable at any time to be wholly lost, or placed beyond
the reach of the parties injured by the fraud. In case of the death
of complainant, the contract, and the means of enforcing it, honest
or otherwise, would be wholly in the control of the alleged forger and
fraudulent claimant. She would be mistress of the situation, and
the heirs of a large estate might be wholly at her mercy. There is a
charge of forgery and fraud; and we think the instrument, if a for- ·
gery and fraud, ought to be canceled. If there be no remedy in equity
for such a wrong as is charged, then the law is, indeed, impotent to
protect the community against frauds of the most far-reaching and
astounding character. If there is no precedent for a case upon the
exact state of facts disclosed by the bill, it must be because no instance
exactly like it has ever before arisen. The principle,_ however, is es-
tablished, and the occasion has arisen for making a precedent, if none
ever existed before.
The demurrer is therefore overruled, with leave to answer on or be-
fore the next rule-day, on payment of the usual costs.