Sands v. Champlin

21 F. Cas. 339, 1 Story 376
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Rhode Island
DecidedNovember 15, 1840
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 21 F. Cas. 339 (Sands v. Champlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sands v. Champlin, 21 F. Cas. 339, 1 Story 376 (circtdri 1840).

Opinion

STOEY, Circuit Justice.

The only Important question in the present case is, whether the legacies or bequests unto Anna Sands, the widow of the testator, and the plaintiff in the suit, constitute a charge on the real estate devised by the will to Samuel P. Eob-inson. If they do, then the plaintiff is entitled to have a decree against the defendants; otherwise, the bill ought to be dismissed. It is observable, that the principal part of the legacies and bequests, at least of that part now in controversy, consists of annual supplies of produce and other articles, which are the common produce, growth, contents, or accompaniments of a farm; and may naturally, therefore, be presumed, from the very language used by the testator, to be exactly those things, which were, and would be, the growth, produce, contents, or accompaniments of the homestead farm devised to Eobinson. That farm included the testator’s mansion house; and it was manifestly contemplated by the testator, that his wife should, during her widowhood, hold and occupy a part thereof for her own use. It might, therefore, be fairly inferred, that the produce and other articles were to come from the same farm. This is not, in the construction of a will, like this, drawn by an uninstructed yeoman, an unimportant circumstance. If the legacies (or annuities, as perhaps they may more properly be called) be charged on the homestead farm, then it is-a just conclusion, that the language used meant to charge it also upon all the other real estate devised to Eobinson. In other words, the charge was designed to be a charge upon the real estate, and also upon the person of the devisee, in respect of the devise, and the benefit thereby conferred upon him. It by no means follows, in cases of this sort, that because the charge is on the real estate, it is so exclusively; for it may be a charge on the real estate, and also on the person of the devisee, in respect of the devise. The argument, therefore, that es[341]*341tablishes the one, by no means repels the other. This doctrine was sufficiently shown to be supported by principle and authority, in the case of Gardner v. Gardner [Case No. 5,227], The devise is to Robinson “and his heirs and assigns, with such reservations as 1 (the testator) shall hereafter make, and one express condition.” The testator, in the same clause, afterwards adds: “These bequests are to him, his heirs and assigns for ever, with the conditions, that will hereafter be expressed.” What were these reservations? The reservations are sufficiently manifest. They include, by implication, the part of the homestead devised to his wife during her widowhood, and that part devised to the black woman, Phillis; and by express declaration, the devise to his black boy, John, “it being (as the testator states) one of the reservations I made to Samuel P. Robinson.” Another express reservation from the devise to Robinson is, the quarter of an acre in the northeast corner of the homestead farm, to be set apart, as a family repository for the dead.

But what is the condition, or what are the conditions referred to by the testator? We observe, that the expression in one place is, “one express condition;” in another, “the conditions, that will be hereafter expressed.” The counsel for the plaintiff contend, that the condition or conditions, here referred to, are the due payment and discharge of the legacies to the plaintiff, and perhaps also the legacies to the other persons named in the will, which are to be paid and discharged by' Robinson. The counsel for the defendants, on the other hand, contends, that the words refer to the devise over, after the death of Robinson, if he should die without lawful issue, to Ray T. Sands, of all the estate devised to Robinson, with the same reservations; and the further provision, that in case Robinson should die without issue, that the wife of the testator (the plaintiff) should improve the estate so long, as she remained his widow. Perhaps it is not easy, in a case of this sort, where the will was drawn by an illiterate person, in loose and inaccurate language, to say exactly what the testator did actually intend by the words “condition” or “conditions.” If I were compelled to give a construction to the words, with reference to the clauses of the will, to which they might appropriately apply, I should incline to apply them to the clause, in which the testator directs Robinson “to pay all my .iust debts, as it is my meaning and will to leave all my property I have not disposed of, as well that in the granary, as that may be growing at the time of my death, to aid him in discharging them.” It is plain, here, that the testator intended to charge Robinson, in consideration of the devises and bequests to him, with the payment of all his debts. Such a charge of debts upon a devisee, in respect to lands devised to him, has always been held to be, not a mere charge on the devisee personally, but a charge on the lands. This is clearly established in the cases of Clowdsley v. Pelham, 1 Vern. 411; Alcock v. Sparhawk, 2 Vern. 228; and Awbrey v. Middleton, 2 Eq. Cas. Abr. p. 497, § 16, — which fall far short of the stringency, in point of language, which is to be found in the present will. 2 If the language used in this will makes the charge of the debts of the testator a charge on tire land devised to Robinson, there is, certainly, very strong reason to apply the same interpretation .to the legacies to the plaintiff, if not to the other legacies payable by Robinson. Each of them may be properly deemed conditions annexed to the estate. But I lay no particular stress upon the words “condition” or “conditions,” in this will. My judgment proceeds upon the ground of the intention of the testator, derived from the language of the will, with reference to the devise to Robinson. The testator says, “In consideration of the devises and bequests to Samuel P. Robinson, I order and direct (him) as follows;” and he then directs him to provide and supply and furnish his wife with the very articles now in controversy. Here, then, there is a positive direction and order, that these legacies shall be paid to the plaintiff by Robinson. Such an order and direction is in the language of. command, and imports a trust fixed upon the estate devised; for it is a charge, in consideration of the devise; or in other words, it is a charge upon the estate in the hands of the devisee. The reasonable intendment of the will was, to provide a sufficient maintenance for the plaintiff during her widowhood, and to have the supplies annually furnished. Now, if the will were to be construed a mere personal charge on Robinson, it is very clear, that, in case of his insolvency, the widow would be left without any maintenance. In case of his death in the lifetime of the testator also, there is no small ground to contend, that the devise might be a lapsed devise, and that the other clauses in the will, devolving the estate and the payment of the legacies on Ray T. Sands, might not apply to such an event; and then, the widow would be left without any maintenance. But if the legacies to the plaintiff are treated, as a charge on the estate devised, the charge will survive, and may be enforced in either event. To carry into effect, then, the obvious intention of the testator from the professed objects of these provisions, ut res magis valeat, quam pereat, (as one may say,) it seems necessary to give this interpretation to the clause. It is at once reasonable, safe, and in entire harmony with the words. Indeed; I understand it to be a general rule in the construction of clauses of this sort, that where the testator de[342]

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Bluebook (online)
21 F. Cas. 339, 1 Story 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sands-v-champlin-circtdri-1840.