Kingsland v. Kingsland

47 A. 69, 60 N.J. Eq. 65, 15 Dickinson 65, 1900 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 36
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedAugust 23, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 47 A. 69 (Kingsland v. Kingsland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kingsland v. Kingsland, 47 A. 69, 60 N.J. Eq. 65, 15 Dickinson 65, 1900 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 36 (N.J. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

Pitney, V. C.

The complainants, Margaret and Martha Kingsland, are two' of the children and beneficiaries mentioned in the will (dated December 3d, 1869) of Joseph Kingsland, first, who died April 26th, 1878, leaving three daughters and two sons, namely, Richard and Joseph Kingsland, second, the latter being the defendant’s husband and testator.

The object of the bill is to establish a liability against the defendant individually and as executrix of her husband, and to fasten the same upon the lands of the first testator in the hands of the defendant as executrix of her husband and tenant for life.

The basis of the claim is a clause in the will of Joseph Kings-■land, first, in these words:

“I give and bequeath to my two daughters, Margaret and Martha, my homestead where I now reside, comprising my dwelling-house, with the barn, garden and orchard adjoining; also all my household and kitchen furniture and articles of housekeeping: also two horses, two of my best carriages, and two cows, for and during their natural Hues. I also give them the use of the stables and carriage-house, for the purpose of keeping the said horses and cows, as long as they shall require them; and I hereby direct my two sons, Joseph and Bichard, to provide hay and pasture for said horses and cows during the lives of my said daughters, and I hereby charge the real estate hereinafter devised to them with the provision of the same.”

It will be seen at once that whatever personal liability there piay be is one resting upon the two sons, Joseph and Richard, jointly.

In the absence of some contract of partition or division of this liability which shall be binding upon both the defendant and the complainants, Richard Kingsland is a necessary party to this suit. As a reason, apparently, for not making him a party the bill alleges that after the death of the first Joseph it was mutually agreed between Richard and Joseph, second, that Richard should furnish the pasturage and hay for the two horses, and that Joseph should furnish the hay and pasturage for the two cows which the complainants owned or possessed. There is no allegation that the complainants assented to and became parties to that agreement; but the allegation is that Richard has performed his part of the agreement to the satisfaction of the [67]*67complainants. It further alleges that the defendant’s testator, Joseph, performed his part of the agreement until the year 1895, when he declined to further perform it, and died in the year 1899 testate of a will, of which the defendant is the sole executrix.

The defendant, by her answer, denies all knowledge of any such agreement between the two brothers, and as the case is heard on bill and answer without any proofs whatever, I am unable to see how this defect of parties is cured. But the defendant makes no point based on that ground. . ■

The will of Joseph, second, after providing for the payment of his debts and funeral expenses, gives, devises and bequeaths to his wife, the defendant Margaret, the use, enjoyment and income during Tier life of all of the residue of his real and personal estate, with power of sale, and to invest and reinvest the principal and the proceeds of sales, and also power to make division of portions of principal and interest among his children if she feels disposed so to do, and at her decease he gives all his estate to his children then living and the issue of any who may have predeceased him leaving heirs, and appoints his wife sole executrix.

No decree can be made which'shall bind any lands beyond the lifetime of the defendant, without the devisees in remainder being made parties.

Eurther, there is no direct allegation which ought to-be the basis of judicial action that any particular tract of land of the first testator remains in the possession of the defendant. The following is all that the bill alleges in that respect: “That said defendant is still possessed of a large tract of land of the property of Joseph Kingsland, deceased.”

The answer does not help the complainant in this respect.

The theory of the bill is that the effect of the above clause in the will is to give the complainants a right of actual pasturage for their horses and cattle on, and the right to gather hay from, the lands of the testator which came to his two sons, Richard and Joseph; and the prayer is that the defendant shall be restrained from preventing complainants pasturing their cows on lands, and from preventing complainants gathering hay on lands. [68]*68This, presumably, is the. ground for coming into this court, and of an application which was made for an injunction based upon affidavits annexed to the bill. This application was not pressed, and the affidavits, of course, will not be considered.

I am unable to adopt this view as to the proper remedy, but am of the opinion that the decree, if any be made, must be for payment of a sum of money annually, which will be sufficient to pay for the pasturage and the hay for two cows, and a declaration that that amount is a standing charge on the lands; and, of course, that decree cannot be enforced without a description of the lands to be affected thereby.

These matters show that it is, probably, impracticable to grant the complainants any relief under the bill as at present framed.

But the defendant took no point as to that, and the parties seem to desire the opinion of the court as to the construction of the clause above quoted. Here, again, the court has no help from any statement in the bill or answer as to the circumstances which surrounded the testator at the time of the making of the will or at his death. It is not stated that he had any cows, horses or carriages.- The answer, indeed, does say .that Eichard and Joseph, the sons,

“did furnish hay and pasturage for the two horses and two cows bequeathed to the complainants and selected by them, for their use during their lives, and continued to give them the use of the stable and carriage-house for the purpose of keeping said horses and cows as long as the said horses .and cows taken, by the said complainants under the provisions of the said will continued to exist, and that all the said horses, and cows had died and were no longer in existence prior to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five.”

But there is no allegation that the horses and cows were chosen out of those which the first testator had at the time of his death.

The full meaning of the clause in question is not of easy determination. The clear intention of the testator was that the complainants should have the use of two cows and-two'horses and. hay and pasture for them during the lifetime of his said daughters. The use of the words “for and during their natural lives” after the gift of the horses, carriages and cows, and, again, of the words “during the lives of my. said daughters” after the [69]*69provision for the keep of the animals, puts this beyond debate. Here, again, the age of the daughters at the time of his decease is not given, so that we have not their then probabilities and possibilities of life. ¡But the fact that they are still alive is some proof that their expectation' of life was good for many years.

The argument of the defendant is that the use of the word “said” before the words “horses and cows” in the.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 A. 69, 60 N.J. Eq. 65, 15 Dickinson 65, 1900 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kingsland-v-kingsland-njch-1900.