Harker v. Reilly

4 Del. Ch. 72
CourtCourt of Chancery of Delaware
DecidedFebruary 15, 1871
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 4 Del. Ch. 72 (Harker v. Reilly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Chancery of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harker v. Reilly, 4 Del. Ch. 72 (Del. Ct. App. 1871).

Opinion

The Chancellor :—

The first question arising in this case is whether the will of Lydia A. McKegney touching the lot, the proceeds of which are the subject of controversy, was a valid execution of the power reserved to her under the deed of Dec. 30th, 1858. It is objected that this disposal of the lot is unwarranted by the power in two particulars—-1st, in creating a trust, whereas the power was to appoint the legal estate, and 2nd, in directing a sale of the premises, whereas the power was to appoint an estate in the land. I am of opinion, however, that in both of these particulars the will is quite within the scope of the power conferred.

In the first place it is to be presumed that a power given to dispose of property by will is intended to be exercised according to the nature of that kind of instrument, and includes ex vi termini any and all modes of disposal which a will is competent to make, except so far as the power of appointing by will is qualified or restricted in the instrument creating it. When therefore the question arises, as here, whether a power to appoint land by will, may be executed by directing a conveyance of the legal estate, not absolutely, but subject to a new trust, or by directing a conversion of the land and a distribution of the proceeds among the appointees instead of the conveyance of it to them,—inasmuch as these are such modes of disposal as may be ‘ made by will,’—we must look into the original instrument,to see whether the power reserved to Mrs. Brown to dispose of these premises by will, is qualified in these particulars, either by the terms in which it was created or by implication from those terms. .We turn then to that clause of the deed which reserves this power. It directs that, after Mrs. Brown’s decease,the trustee shall convey the said premises to “ such person or person, and “for such estate and estates and interest” as she the said Lydia Ann Brown should by her last will and testament &c. “order, direct, limit, and appoint.” These words point [78]*78to no special class of objects to be benefited, but any person may be appointed to take ; they point to no particular sort of estates to be raised in the person taken, it is to be “such estate and estates and interests” without any qualification, legal or equitable, as the donee shall limit; again, there is no indication of any purpose to preserve the premises in specie, excluding the direction of a sale and distribution of the proceeds as one of the general powers of disposal by will. The terms of the deed are evidently meant to be and are simply declarative of a full and unqualified testamentary power and not, in any particular, restrictive of it. This general view would seem sufficient, to sustain the will as a valid execution of the power ; but we may now examine more particularly the points of objection. The first is, that the power was to operate upon the legal estate held by Fox, to be executed by the conveyance of the legal estate simply, and is without authority ' to superadd to it a further trust. This, however, is a question of intent whether it was within the contemplated scope of the power that Mrs. Brown might direct a conveyance by Fox of the legal estate with further trusts raised upon it. The very general terms used,—that the conveyance by Fox should be “for such estate and estates and interests” as she should limit,—would include either a conveyance of the legal estate absolutely, or of the legal estate subject to any uses, trusts, conditions or limitation whatever. Sugden in his treatise on Powers, Vol. i. page 514, speaks of this phrase, estate or estates, “as comprehending the whole interest in lands and as being sufficient, even when used in the creation of a power, to authorize the limitation of a rent charge, that being, as he says, “ clearly a portion of the entire interest in the land.” It was so held Thwaytes vs. Dye, 2 Vern. 80, and affirmed in the Bouse of Lords. The only doubt ever entertained was whether such an execution was good at law, as well as in equity, and, even this doubt, Sugden considers as having been removed.

[79]*79We must then conclude that the power under consideration, to direct a conveyance for any “estate and estates and interest” warrants a direction for the conveyance of the legal estate, either absolutely or subject to any trusts, conditions or limitations whatsoever.

The other objection was that the power reserved, being to appoint estates in the land, did not authorize a direction for the sale of it and a distribution of the proceeds. But the contrary of this has been fully settled by authority.

First is the early case of Roberts vs. Dixwell, 2 Eq. Cas. Abr. 668. The question was whether a father, having a power “to appoint and divide" an estate among younger children, could exercise the power by charging on the estate a gross sum in favor of the only younger child. Lord Hardwicke treats it as unquestionable and admitted in the case, that “ the father might have appointed part of the estate to be sold and the money raised by such sale, and hence concludes that he might raise the money as well by a charge. This case is a high authority for the principle that a power to appoint the land may be executed otherwise than by limiting the lands itself to the appointees, with Lord Hardwicke’s opinion that such a power might be executed by a conversion and distribution of proceeds.

Next is Long vs. Long, 5 Ves. 445, in which Lord Loughborough decided that a power to sell an estate need not be expressly given ; and he went so far as to raise such a power, by implication, from a power given to charge the estate in the hands of the eldest son for the benefit of younger children. That was a stronger case against the sale than the present one; for it was argued with much force that the estate was intended to remain in the eldest son subject to the charge. But it was held, that, as the father might have charged the estate to its full value, he had done only what was equivalent to that. That seems to be going a great way.

[80]*80In Kenworthy vs. Bate, 6 Ves. 792, the direct question now before us was presented. There, as here, the power was to. appoint real estate by will, but more' qualified' in this respect, that the appointment was restricted to a class, viz : the children of the appointor, whereas, in the case before us, the power is unlimited. The execution of the power was by a devise to trustees to sell and distribute the proceeds among the children.

The point was very fully examined and all the cases reviewed, both in the argument of counsel and in the opinion of Sir William Grant.

The decision was that “a power to give includes a “ power to sell, for the purpose of giving the money instead “ of the land,” and the devise in trust to sell was held a valid execution of the power to appoint the land. The great principle of all the cases is, that in construing powers, the Court looks to the end and design of the parties and the substantial, rather than the literal execution of them. 5 Ves. 445. In Sumner & Perkins' Ed’n. of Ves. Jr. 6th Vol. 448 note (B). there are cited, from Sugden on Powers (4th Edition), some objections to the decision in Long vs. Long, as to the unlimited power to charge to any value, but in the 6th Edition, p. 553, (15 Law Lib.,) these objections are retracted by Sugden and he expresses his entire acquiescence in Long vs. Long on that point. 4 Kent Com. 344-5.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re the Estate of Sears
29 Misc. 2d 234 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1961)
Equitable Trust Co. v. James
47 A.2d 303 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1946)
Equitable Trust Co. v. Foulke
40 A.2d 713 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1945)
Massey v. Guaranty Trust Co.
5 N.W.2d 279 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1942)
Wilmington Trust Co. v. Wilmington Trust Co.
15 A.2d 153 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1940)
In re the Estate of Beaumont
147 Misc. 118 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1933)
Provident Trust Co. of Philadelphia v. Graff
157 A. 920 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1932)
Bradford v. Andrew
139 N.E. 922 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1923)
Security Trust & Safe Deposit Co. v. Ward
93 A. 385 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 Del. Ch. 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harker-v-reilly-delch-1871.