Riker v. Sampson Simpson, Leo, The North American Relief Society

4 Silv. Ct. App. 195, 44 N.Y. St. Rep. 63
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 12, 1892
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Silv. Ct. App. 195 (Riker v. Sampson Simpson, Leo, The North American Relief Society) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riker v. Sampson Simpson, Leo, The North American Relief Society, 4 Silv. Ct. App. 195, 44 N.Y. St. Rep. 63 (N.Y. 1892).

Opinion

Andrews, J.

—This case is before the court for the second time. On the former appeal the court reversed the judgment of the general term on the ground that the North American Relief Society did not answer the description of the corporation mentioned in the fifth clause of the will of Sampson Simpson, 115 N.Y. 94, and was not, therefore, entitled, to the fund of '$50,000. The case went back for a new trial, and on the new trial judgment was rendered against the claim of the North American Relief Society. Upon the new trial evidence was given, not presented on the former trial, which it is claimed authorizes and requires that the words “ relief of the indigent Jews in Jerusalem, Palestine,” contained in the certificate of incorporation of The North American Relief Society, should have a broader interpretation than that given to them on the former appeal^ and it is insisted that in the light of the new evidence it should be held that the society is intitled to the legacy in question.

The will of Sampson Simpson, which was executed in January, 1857, a few days prior to the testator’s death, in the fifth clause directs that on the death of his nephew, Moses A. Isaacs, the legacy of $50,000 (the income of which was given to the nephew for life) should be paid by his executors “ to any responsible corporation in this city (New York) existing at the time of the death of my nephew, whose permanent fund is established by its charter for the purpose of [197]*197ameliorating the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem, Palestine ; and I desire such corporation annually to transmit the interest received on the said $50,000 to Jerusalem, Palestine, to ameliorate the condition of the Jews living there by promoting among them education, arts and sciences, and by learning them agricultural and mechanical vocations.”

It is claimed that the case as now presented shows that in tiie contemplation of the incorporators of the North American Relief Society, of whom the testator, Sampson Simpson, was one, the words in the certificate, “ relief of the indigent Jews in Jerusalem, Palestine,” were synonymous with the words subsequently used by the testator in his will to express the purpose to which his legacy was to be devoted.

It is insisted that the words used in the certificate are to be construed in the sense in which they were understood by the incorporators, and that so construed the corporate powers of the society extend to the administration of a fund for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem by means of education and instruction in agricultural and mechanical vocations, although in the absence of explanation they might have a narrower interpretation.

It is further insisted that it was the intention of the testator that the- North American Relief Society should receive the legacy, provided the society should be in existence and a responsible corporation at the death of the nephew. The argument that the words “ relief of indigent Jews,” used in the certificate of incorporation, comprehend the apparently wider purpose of benevolence manifested in the scheme of the testator in his will, rests upon evidence given upon the last trial by learned divines of the Jewish Church explaining the conception of charity as taught in the Talmud and accepted by orthodox Jews. It is unnecessary to state in detail the very interesting testimony upon this subject. It is sufficient to say that it was shown that from early times it has been the doctrine of the Jewish teachers that the true way of administering charity is by furnishing opportunities [198]*198to the poor and dependent to become self supporting, and by aiding and encouraging them to fit themselves for some handicraft, or to engage in agricultural or other business, or to do any labor, however humble, to gain their bread. The giving of alms is discouraged, except in cases of actual necessity, and is deemed the lowest form of charity.

It is probable that this same view of charity exists among Christian communities, but with the Jews it seems to a greater extent to have the explicit sanction of the law of the Jewish Church. It is, therefore, claimed that the words in the certificate of incorporation of the North American Relief Society, “ relief of indigent Jews,” means relief according to the Jewish method, by means of education, provision for the instruction of the poor of their race in some self supporting trade or vocation, and that in a subordinate sense only do they refer to their temporary relief by the giving of alms.

The words in the will are, it is insisted, a paraphrase merely of the words of the certificate, and the identity of the corporation claiming the legacy with the one described in the will is by the evidence referred to claimed to be established.

We have reached the conclusion that the case is not changed in its Jegal aspect by the new evidence given on the second trial.

It was held on the former appeal that the particular purposes designated by the testator in the fifth clause of his will, for which he desired the income of the fund of $50,000 to be applied, constituted an essential part of the testator’s scheme, and that no corporation could take the legacy except one authorized to effectuate his plan of amelioration in the way pointed out. This construction has stroifg support in the language used by the testator in providing for a disposition of the fund in the contingency that there should be nO' corporation existing at the death of his nephew of the character previously described. In that case he empowered his executors to pay over the legacy to the Jews’ Hospital in [199]*199• Palestine, or any corporation or trust company which should consent to receive the legacy and “ apply the interest in accordance with my instructions as above expressed,” provided his executors should be satisfied that in that way “ my intention to ameliorate the condition of the Jews can be accomplished.” Whether words in a will attached to a gift explaining the desire of the testator in respect to its use or disposition constitute a limitation of the bequest, or are to be regarded as advisory or recommendatory only, depends upon the intention of the testator, and they are construed as mandatory or advisory according to the intention as ascertained from a consideration of all the provisions of the will which bear upon the subject. See Colton v. Colton, 127 U. S. 300. We perceive no reason for changing our former view upon this point.

The court in the former appeal also held that the administration of the fund, according to the directions of the will, was not within the corporate powers possessed by the North American Relief Society. The words in the certificate of incorporation of the society to express the corporate object of the association, viz.: the “ relief of the indigent Jews in Jerusaem, Palestine,” in their ordinary interpretation, import the bestowal of charity upon the poor by ministering to their personal and temporary distresses, and do not describe those benevolent schemes for the permanent elevation of that class through education and instruction and employment in vocations and thereby convert them from a condition of dependence into self supporting men and women. It does not seem to be seriously contested that the words of the certificate of incorporation do not in their usual acceptation embrace those wider purposes of benevolence.

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Related

Colton v. Colton
127 U.S. 300 (Supreme Court, 1888)

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Bluebook (online)
4 Silv. Ct. App. 195, 44 N.Y. St. Rep. 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riker-v-sampson-simpson-leo-the-north-american-relief-society-ny-1892.