Hull v. Pearson

55 N.Y.S. 324
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 10, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 55 N.Y.S. 324 (Hull v. Pearson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hull v. Pearson, 55 N.Y.S. 324 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

GOODRICH, P. J.

This appeal involves the construction of the last will of Joseph Wild, who died September 3, 1896, leaving a large estate, consisting entirely of personal property. The testator, after directing the payment of his debts, bequeathed to his wife a life estate in certain personal property, and then gave the residue of his property to his executors in trust to pay a number of annuities, with which [325]*325we are not concerned, and also a number of specific legacies to various charitable, benevolent, and religious institutions. The clauses which have direct reference to the question involved read as follows:

“Third. I give and bequeath to the various societies, associations, or corporations named below, for the general purposes or uses of said societies, associations, or corporations, except as I shall in any case otherwise particularly indicate, the sums hereinafter specified, and I direct, my said executors to pay the same out of my residuary estate, to wit: * * * To the Long Island Baptist Association, the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000); * * to the orphanage founded, or to be founded, by the Long Island Baptist Association, under whatever name the same may be organized or incorporated, the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000). * * * And I. direct that the said several legacies or bequests herein made shall be paid over to the respective treasurers or other financial officers of the said several societies, institutions, or corporations, for the time being; and I do further direct that, in case the same should not be correctly given herein, that no legacy shall lapse or fail, on that account, but that the amount thereof may be paid over to the society, institution, or corporation designated or intended so to be, notwithstanding any misnomer thereof. * * *
“Ninth. In this, my will, I have disposed of my estate among those of my kin with whom it has been my pleasure to share my income, and also among such religious and charitable objects as it has been my pleasure from time to time to render assistance with my means, and with a careful regard to all persons and institutions who might reasonably have claims upon me; and it is therefore my will, and I direct, that in case any legatee or beneficiary under this, my will, shall contest the same, such person or persons so contesting shall receive nothing under this will, or out of my estate, and the legacy or legacies herein named to them are in each and every such case hereby revoked and annulled; and I hereby direct that this provision shall apply, not only to the person or persons who shall formally contest this will, but also to any and every other person who shall aid or abet such contest, or take any part therein.”

This action was brought for the construction of the will. One clause of the relief demanded in the complaint reads:

“(3) That it be determined whether the Long Island Baptist Association should receive the legacy of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to the orphanage founded, or to be founded, by it, hereinabove referred to and set forth, or whether the said legacy fails, and falls into the residuary estate.”

Issues having been formed by the service of answers on behalf of some of the parties in interest, the action was referred to a referee, who made the report, upon which a judgment was entered directing that the Long Island Baptist Association was entitled to receive the legacy in question, and directing the executors to pay said legacy to said association, in accordance with the terms of the will. The appeal is taken from this judgment.

The appellants’ counsel contends that the bequest in the third paragraph, which reads, “To the orphanage founded, or to be founded, by the Long Island Baptist Association, under whatever name the same may be organized or incorporated, the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000),” is invalid. There are certain elementary principles in the construction of wills, a statement of which will assist our conclusion. Some of them are so elementary as hardly to need citation of authority. The basic rule is that the intention of the testator must be sought for and derived from the instrument itself, and carried out, provided it infringes no established rule of law. In construing a difficult provision, reference may be had to other provisions of the will [326]*326for the purpose of ascertaining the intention of the testator, and effect must be given, if possible, to all of its provisions, and no clause is to be rejected, and no interest intended to be given is to be sacrificed, on the ground of repugnancy, when it is possible to reconcile the provisions supposed to be in conflict. Taggart v. Murray, 53 N. Y. 233. Where there-are two possible constructions which may be given to a clause, that construction will be given which will sustain the intended devise rather than one that will defeat it. Roe v. Vingut, 117 N. Y. 204, 22 N. E. 933.

In Du Bois v. Ray, 35 N. Y. 162,167, the court said:

“Applying the doctrine of these cases to the clause of the will now under consideration, it is plainly our duty to give such a construction to the particular language used in it (if the same can consistently he found to have a doubtful or a twofold meaning) as will render the disposition made by the testator of his property effectual and consistent with his intention, rather than, by following a literal reading of it, thwart his intentions, and render nugatory and void the limitation.”

In Crooke v. Kings Co., 97 N. Y. 421, 434, Finch, J., said:

“It is our duty to harmonize and retain, so far as possible, all the provisions of the will; to reject no words of its maker except from imperative necessity; and to seek for all of them some force and operation.”

A similar doctrine is announced in Parker v. Butler, 76 Hum, 240, 27 N. Y. Supp. 805.

In Weeks v. Cornwell, 104 N. Y. 325, 10 N. E. 431, Earl, J., said (pages 336, 337, 104 N. Y., and page 433, 10 N. E.):

“So, in the construction of written instruments, courts will scrutinize the language used, and, however confused, uncertain, and involved it may be, will give it that construction which has in its favor the balance of reasons and probabilities, and will act upon that. The intent of a testator may sometimes be missed, but such is the infirmity of language and human judgment that such a result is sometimes unavoidable.”

The court, however, is not confined to the instrument itself, but may consider the circumstances which existed at the time of the making of the will, provided there are latent ambiguities in it; that is, ambiguities of such a character that the intent of the testator cannot be absolutely ascertained from the will itself. Mr. Jarman says:

“Though it is (as we have seen) the will itself (and not the intention, as elsewhere collected) which constitutes the real and only subject to be expounded, yet, in performing this office, a court of construction is not bound to shut its eyes to the state of facts under which the will was made. On the contrary, an investigation of such facts often materially aids in elucidating the scheme of disposition which occupied the mind of the testator.

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Related

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81 N.Y.S. 906 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1903)

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Bluebook (online)
55 N.Y.S. 324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hull-v-pearson-nyappdiv-1899.