Tyson v. Latrobe

42 Md. 325, 1875 Md. LEXIS 19
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 12, 1875
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 42 Md. 325 (Tyson v. Latrobe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyson v. Latrobe, 42 Md. 325, 1875 Md. LEXIS 19 (Md. 1875).

Opinions

Stewart, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

It appears, by the proceedings in this cause, that the complainants rightfully held the mortgage executed by Wm. Key Howard, on the Lombard street property, for the sum of 08,500 — 04,000 of that amount having been derived from the will of N. P. Tyson, as legacies, in the hands of Rebecca A. Tyson, as their guardian — the remainder, 04,500, being held by her, as the substituted trustee, in pursuance of the provisions of the said will.

Mrs. Tyson, in her capacity as guardian, had no authority, by law, to execute the mortgage to the appellee, upon the property of the complainants, as her wards. The Code, Art. 93, secs. 167, 168, 173, and Biddess vs. Thompson, 2 H. & G., 120, show with what strictness the guardian must act, in the management and disposition of the property of the ward.

Kor is it pretended that the will of N. P. Tyson, under the provision creating the trust, as to the funds belonging to the complainants, confers any authority upon Mrs. Tyson, the substituted trustee, to execute such mortgage.

But the deed from Wm. Key Howard to Mrs. Tyson, is relied upon by the respondent, as clothing her, as trustee, with the power to execute the mortgage in question.

That deed conveys Howard’s equity of redemption in the Lombard street property, to Mrs. Tyson, and declares the purpose of the conveyance to be to vest the property in her in trust, for the benefit of the complainants, in equal portions, until they respectively arrive at the age of twenty-one; and then the share of each to be conveyed in fee.

Under it, Mrs. Tyson held the property as trustee, for the benefit of the complainants, the cesttds que trust, who, in equity, were actually seized of the freehold.

It also conveys to the trustee, the power and authority during the minority of the complainants, to sell the property ; and after discharging the mortgages thereon, to [334]*334apply any residue of the purchase money by re-investment in other property, for the uses and purposes of the trust.

The terms of the deed in question are plain upon their face, leaving slight margin for discretion in the trustee, or construction on the part of the Court, as to the purpose of the donor, or the extent of power conferred upon the trustee. Decisions of Courts in England or this country, or elementary authorities as to the construction of deeds of doubtful import, afford but little aid in the interpretation of this deed, where the meaning of the donor is so distinctly expressed. It is his intention as indicated by the provisions of the instrument, creating the trust, that must govern; that is the great controlling principle in the construction of powers. 4 Kent, 374. No specific authority was given to mortgage the property ; nor was the exercise of such a power to be reasonably implied- — such implication was not necessary for the full and complete discharge of the trust. On the contrary, it was inconsistent with the declared purposes of the trust. Without a sale was • alone contemplated, there was no grounds for the direction to the trustee,' as to the investment of any residue.

The execution of the poiiver, if exercised by the trustee, necessarily imported the absolute or “out and out” disposition of the property; the discharge of the mortgages resting thereon, from the proceeds, and the investment of the residue. Unless a sale was made, there could be no investment of a residue after the discharge of the mortgages.

This is the natural and reasonable construction to be given to the instrument.

It would not only be a loose but uncalled for construction, to undertake to give it other meaning.

There is no occasion for this, to enable the trustee fully, fairly and efficiently to discharge the trust, for the benefit of the cestuis que trust. A conditional sale, or a mortgage [335]*335of the property, would practically perpetuate the trust and contravene its object, and tend to defeat the power confided to the trustee.

Such disposition of the property, would accomplish the entire perversion of the intentions of the donor.

It is clearly unwarranted by any of the terms or purposes expressed in the instrument.

It does not appear from the record, that the execution of the mortgage in question by the trustee, and the receipt of the money under it, had the slightest reference to the purposes of the trust; hut that the money was obtained for mere speculative objects ; ostensibly for the improvement of certain other property on Hanover Street, in which the complainants were interested.

The provisions of the deed creating the trust, when brought to the notice of the Courts, cannot bo disregarded.

It is their duty to see that they are fairly pursued by the trustee, especially where the right of infants or other persons under the peculiar guardianship of the Court are concerned.

A Court of Chancery has no authority to engraft upon the instrument, creating the trust, by construction, other conditions than those provided therein.

It can only afford assistance in carrying into effect, the bona fide purposes of the donor. Lowry vs. Tiernan, 2 H. & G., 34.

Whether the mortgagee under the circumstances ought to be held answerable for the application of the funds, as having liad notice of the nature of the trust and the intended misapplication thereof, constituting a breach of the trust on the part of the trustee, it is not material, from the view we have taken of the matter, to inquire.

The receipt of the money was intended for another purpose, than the discharge of the mortgage on the Lombard Street property, to wit: the improvement of the Hanover Street property, by the trustee, Mrs. Tyson.

[336]*336The transaction seemed to have been founded upon the theory, thatthechange of Judge Dobbin’s lien on the Lombard Street property, and its imposition upon the Hanover Street property, gratified the provisions of the deed of trust, in two particulars — the discharge of a lien on the Lombard Street, and an investment in the Hanover Street property. But independent of their having been no sale of the property, required by the deed, before such results could be accomplished; the scheme totally failed to effect any of the purposes of the deed. Judge Dobbin’s mortgage on the Lombard Street property was not really discharged, but only shifted to or substituted by his mortgage on the Hanover Street property, in which the complainants held the reversionary interest; and in its place, Mr. Latrobe’s mortgage, was a substituted lien on the Lombard Street property. The actual effect of which was to burden the property of the complainants, with two mortgages in place of one, both of which, to all intents and purposes operated, notwithstanding the change of the lien, as encumbrances upon the complainants; and whether it was on one parcel of property or another, could not be considered a gratification of the terms of the deed, by applying the proceeds of a sale or quasi sale of the property. If by such a process the complainants have been relieved from liens on their property, we have not been able to perceive that such has been the result.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 Md. 325, 1875 Md. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyson-v-latrobe-md-1875.