Clarke v. Sisters of Society of the Holy Child Jesus

117 N.W. 107, 82 Neb. 85, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 234
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 26, 1908
DocketNo. 15,635
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 117 N.W. 107 (Clarke v. Sisters of Society of the Holy Child Jesus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clarke v. Sisters of Society of the Holy Child Jesus, 117 N.W. 107, 82 Neb. 85, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 234 (Neb. 1908).

Opinion

Duffie, C.

This case was submitted to the district court on an agreed statement of facts. Judgment went in favor of the defendants, and the plaintiffs have taken an appeal to this court.

The facts appearing from the stipulation are as follows: November 29, 1884, John Fitzgerald conveyed to the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a Nebraska corporation, a block of land located at Fourteenth and U streets, in the city of Lincoln. The granting part of the deed is in the following language: “Know all men by these presents, that John Fitzgerald and Mary Fitzgerald, his wife, of the county of Lancaster, and state [87]*87of Nebraska, for and in consideration of the establishment and maintenance of a convent school on the property herein, do hereby grant, bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, of the county of Lancaster, and state of Nebraska, the following described real estate situated in Lincoln, in Lancaster county, and state of Nebraska, to wit.” Here follows a description of the land conveyed. The deed contains the following condition: “One of the conditions upon which this property is conveyed is that the grantee herein hereby agrees to teach the parochial school children (whose parents are known to be unable to pay) free of charge, and if the grantee herein should fail to use the said property for convent school purposes, or refuse to teach the parochial school children as agreed above, or shall divert said property to any other use, then the said property herein conveyed shall revert to and be the property of the grantor, if living, and, if dead, to his heirs.” The grantee established a convent school upon the'premises and maintained the same until June, 1907. In October, 1907, the grantee abandoned the property and declined to maintain a school upon the same in the future. The grantor, John Fitzgerald, departed this life intestate in 1894. The defendants, other than the grantee named in said deed, are heirs of the deceased, and they reentered the property soon after the same was abandoned by the grantee. November 8, 1907, the grantee conveyed the premises to the heirs of John Fitzgerald, deceased; said deed reciting the permanent abandonment of the property. After the establishment of the convent school on the property in dispute, another society, the Sisters of Charity, established a parochial school at Thirteenth and M streets, in the city of Lincoln, known as “St. Theresa’s Parochial School.” The establishment of the last named school removed the necessity for the education of the poor in the convent school free of charge; such children being taken care of by St. Theresa’s Parochial School. Under these circumstances, Fitzgerald and his grantee entered [88]*88into a contract in' June, 1888, modifying the terms of the deed by which the premises were conveyed to the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. By this last contract the clause in the deed, by which the grantee agreed to teach the parochial children whose parents were known to be unable to pay free of charge, was changed so that it was relieved of that duty; the contract reciting the following: “The grantee herein and hereby agrees to teach the parochial school children whose parents are unable to pay in St. Theresa’s Parochial School upon the usual terms.” The contract provided for a further modification of the deed as follows: “If tlie property described in said deed shall ever, in the judgment of the grantors or grantees, become inadequate or unsuited for the purposes for which the said property is deeded, then the grantees shall have power and authority to sell, pass title and execute deeds of conveyance thereto, upon condition, however, that the proceeds arising from said sale shall be reinvested in other property, which shall be used for tlie purposes known in said deed of conveyance. The said deed as thus modified shall be and remain in full force as though these changes had never been made.” On the abandonment of the property by the Sisters, and after reentry by the heirs of John Fitzgerald, tlie heirs instituted partition proceedings, which resulted in a judgment of partition and an order for the sale of the property. On the day of the sale, on January, 1908, the plaintiffs instituted this action for themselves, and Others similiarly situated, insisting that the conveyance by Fitzgerald and the conditions contained in the deed providing for the teaching of poor catholic children without charge was a conveyance in trust for the perpetual benefit of all parents of the catholic faith having children of school age.

The petition alleges that plaintiffs belong to the class specified in the deed, and they pray a cancelation of the reconveyance by the grantee to the heirs of John Fitzgerald; that the sale be enjoined and a trustee appointed for the purpose, and with power under the direction and [89]*89supervision of the court to arrange for the permanent reopening and establishment of said convent school, and for the education or free instruction of the poor children of the city of Lincoln in harmony with the terms and conditions of the trust.

On tlie part of the plaintiffs, it is claimed: First, that the deed from Fitzgerald, together with the modifications thereafter made in its terms, created a charitable trust; second, that any person having children eligible to attend the schools is a beneficiary of the trust who may maintain an action for its enforcement; third, that the last-executed instrument, spoken of as the modification, giving the grantee in the deed power to sell and convey, destroyed the provision in the original deed providing for a reversion; and, finally, that a charitable trust will not be permitted to fail for want of a trustee, nor because of the failure or refusal of the trustee to carry out the object of the trust.

If we concede the first proposition, that the conveyance made by Fitzgerald created a charitable trust, the other contentions of the plaintiffs may be conceded. The material question for our consideration, therefore, arises upon the construction to be given the conditions in the deed. It will be borne in mind that the conveyance was made to a corporation. The general purposes of the corporation, as set forth in the second paragraph of its charter, were “To promote education among ‘ all classes of females, and to acquire by purchase, gift, grant or devise, and hold, use and convey any real estate or personal property whatever, and lease or mortgage the same, or use the same in any manner considered by the corporation most conducive to its interest and property.” The general rule appears to be that, where property is conveyed directly to a corporation to hold for purposes for which the corporation was created, no trust for the benefit of others arises. There are no apt words in the deed to create a trust, or making the grantee a trustee of the property. On the contrary, it is evident that the grantor intended to vest the legal title absolutely in the corporation for use in its cor[90]*90porate business, subject to the conditions named. The recited consideration of the deed is: “The establishment and maintenance of a convent school on the property herein.” The purpose of the corporation was to conduct an educational institution, and, as a condition of the gift, the donor required that the parochial school children should be taught free of' charge, in case the parents were unable to pay. In order to secure the performance of this condition and the use of the property for school purposes, the grantor provided that the title should revert to him or his heirs on condition broken.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 N.W. 107, 82 Neb. 85, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clarke-v-sisters-of-society-of-the-holy-child-jesus-neb-1908.