Woodruff v. Marsh

26 A. 846, 63 Conn. 125
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMay 5, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 26 A. 846 (Woodruff v. Marsh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodruff v. Marsh, 26 A. 846, 63 Conn. 125 (Colo. 1893).

Opinion

Baldwih, J.

This is a suit by the executors of the will of William L. Gilbert, of Winchester, for a construction of certain of its provisions. The will commences by a declaration that its dispositions are the result of a desire on the part of the testator that a large part of his estate should be “ used in the improvement of mankind, by affording such *127 assistance and means of educating tbe young as will help them to become good citizens.” After certain legacies to his next of kin, and for educational and religious purposes, come the clauses as to which the advice of the court is sought. By the first of these he gives and devises to sixteen of his fellow townsmen, “in trust for the purpose hereinafter named,” a tract of land in Winchester described as that “ deeded to me by Henry Gay, together with all the buildings located thereon, and all the land which I may hereafter acquire adjoining the above-described tract,” the will then proceeding as follows: — “ and also the sum of four hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of maintaining and supporting a home for destitute and friendless children, permanently, on the above described premises, and to be known as the ‘ William L. Gilbert Home; ’ the same to be under the care and control of the above-named persons as trustees, and said trustees shall have the power to fill all vacancies which may occur by death or otherwise; the whole number to always consist of sixteen, eight of whom shall be residents of the Fourth School District of Winchester, and the other eight shall be residents of the First School District of Winchester, as they are now divided; the said four hundred thousand dollars to be kept safely invested, and from the yearly income thereof the sum of ten thousand dollars shall each year be added to the principal of said fund for the period of one hundred years, and longer if the trustees deem it best. The balance of the income from said fund, including the income from said yearly additions, may be used for the maintenance of said home. And said trustees shall have the privilege of vesting said fund in mortgages secured on real estate located in this and other states within the United States; and also in the purchase of real estate and the erection of buildings thereon, as they may deem best, for the safety and increase of said fund.”

The heirs at law contend that this devise and bequest is void for indefiniteness, uncertainty, and the absence of any grant of power to select the beneficiaries.

In devises and bequests of this nature our law requires *128 either certainty in the particular persons to be benefited, or certainty as to the class of persons to be benefited, with an ascertained mode of selecting them out of such class. The testator, in the present case, describes the persons whom he intends to benefit as “ destitute and friendless children; ” the mode of benefit to be “ maintaining and supporting a home ” for them “permanently,” at aplace particularly specified, to be known as the “ William L. Gilbert Home,” the same to be under the care and control of the trustees whom he has selected, and their successors in the trust; and declares the great object of his will to be the affording of “ such assistance and means of educating the young as will help them to become good citizens.” We think that the trustees who are to maintain and support this home, and under whose care and control it is expressly placed, are thereby invested with ample powers to select for its inmates from time to time, subject only to the limitations imposed in the concluding portion of the will, such individuals of the class of destitute and friendless children as they, or a majority of them, may think proper, or to commit the power of selection to suitable officers or agents under their supervision.

This power to admit includes power to exclude, and to remove after admission. All such acts are naturally incident to the control of the institution.

It is claimed by the heirs at law that the words, “ the same to be under the care and control of the above-named persons as trustees,” refer not to the “William L. Gilbert Home,” but to the funds bequeathed. Such a construction would do violence to the rule which refers an adjective or relative clause to its last antecedent, as well as to the natural course of thought which runs through the whole paragraph, the latter part of which contains specific directions as to the management, of the fund and the use of the income it may produce.

The charitable purpose is sufficiently definite. The children to be benefited must reside in the “ Home.” Coit v. Comstock, 51 Conn., 352, 382. They can reside there, at most, only so long as they are children. They must be taken *129 from the class of the destitute and friendless, and they should be given such assistance and means of education as will help them to become good citizens. The “ assistance ” should be such as children, who are not destitute and friendless, find at their homes, and may thus include food, shelter, clothing and medical attendance. The means of education may be afforded either by instruction given at the home, or by allowing some or all of the children to attend school in the vicinity, at the discretion of the trustees.

The class to be benefited is a large one, for the testator has imposed no restrictions as to race or residence, but the number of possible beneficiaries under a charitable bequest is immaterial where a power of selection is given. Treat's Appeal from Probate, 30 Conn., 113. The “ assistance ” to be furnished is quite as definitely indicated as was that in the bequest which we upheld in Tappan's Appeal from Probate, 52 Conn., 412, for the charitable assistance and benefit of indigent, unmarried, Protestant females over the age of eighteen years, residents of Bridgeport.

In 1887, about three years before the date of the will, a special charter was granted to the same sixteen persons who are constituted trustees under this bequest, by the name of “ The William L. Gilbert Home.” 10 Special Acts, 632. By this charter they were authorized to erect and forever maintain a home in Winchester for destitute minors, admittance to which should at all times be under the control of the corporators, who could make such rules for their admission as should be deemed wise and best. The corporation was empowered to receive and hold any property which might be conveyed or bequeathed to it by William L. Gilbert, and in administering its trust to comply with any lawful regulations which he might prescribe. The heirs at law of Mr. Gilbert have argued before us that, as he did not make any bequest to this corporation, it may fairly be presumed that he did not like the discretionary powers as to the admission of minors to the home which this charter gave, and that as he afterwards used different language in respect to this matter in his will, such language ought to be construed as not in *130 'tended to confer similar authority. Their contention, in other words, is that the charter rebuts any implication of a grant by the will of discretionary powers in the selection of beneficiaries. It is claimed, on the other hand, by the trustees, that the devise and bequest in question inure to them, not as individuals, but as a corporation, and should be construed as if expressly made to “ The William L.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hebrew University Assn. v. Nye
223 A.2d 397 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1966)
Tumlin v. Troy Bank & Trust Co.
61 So. 2d 817 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1952)
Alexander v. House
54 A.2d 510 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1947)
Waterbury Trust Co. v. Porter
38 A.2d 598 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1944)
Penick v. Bank of Wadesboro
12 S.E.2d 253 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1940)
Perkins v. Citizens & Southern National Bank
8 S.E.2d 28 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)
Warren v. Duval
200 A. 804 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1938)
Frazier v. Merchants National Bank
5 N.E.2d 550 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1936)
Patterson v. Commissioner
34 B.T.A. 689 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1936)
Shannon v. Eno
179 A. 479 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1935)
Lyme High School Association v. Alling, Attorney-Gen.
154 A. 439 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1931)
Moeller v. Kautz
152 A. 886 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1931)
Colonial Trust Co. v. Waldron
152 A. 69 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1930)
Wilson v. D'Atro
145 A. 161 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1929)
Bankers Trust Co. v. Greims
142 A. 796 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1928)
Dwyer v. Leonard
124 A. 28 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1924)
Gearhart v. Richardson
142 N.E. 890 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1924)
Newton v. Healy, Attorney General
122 A. 654 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1923)
Gilman v. Gilman
122 A. 386 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1923)
Simmons v. Simmons
121 A. 819 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 A. 846, 63 Conn. 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodruff-v-marsh-conn-1893.