Majority
Headnote
1. Wills—Construction—Nature of Estate—Trusts.The provisions of the will disposing of the residuary-estate to the trustees of the University of Rochester, after the termination of the life estate to the widow and son, are attacked upon three-principal grounds: First, as suspending the absolute ownership be-
yond two lives in being contrary to the statute; second, as creating a trust the objects of which are indefinite; and, third, the beneficiaries are indefinite. It is also contended that the provisions in controversy are conditioned upon an accumulation prohibited by law; and, if the gift is not intended as a trust in the trustees of the university as individuals, but a gift to them in their corporate capacity, that the university is incompetent to take, because it already holds personal property to the limit permitted by statute.
The plaintiff construes the will as giving the residue, not to the University of Rochester or its trustees in their corporate capacity, but to the trustees as individuals, in trust, to found, if they so elect, a female-college in Rochester, entirely separate from and independent of the present university, and as a distinct corporation. This construction would make the intent of the will to suspend the absolute ownership of the fund in perpetuity, to be held by the trustees, and the income only applied for the benefit of the female college, or if, on the incorporation of the female college, the trustees have power to turn the principal over to such corporation, still there is or may be a suspension of the absolute ownership beyond two lives in being, as there is no period limited by lives within which trustees are to incorporate the college and turn over the fund. If this is the true construction of the will, and if its validity is to be tested by the law in force at the time of the death of the testator, as plaintiff contends, then no doubt the scheme of the will for the benefit of female education of high grade in the city of Rochester would fail. The absolute ownership of the fund would be suspended beyond two lives in being at the death of the testator, in violation of the statute, and the beneficiaries of the trust are not indicated with sufficient certainty to enable the courts to enforce performance by the trustees, which was necessary in charitable as well as other testamentary trusts, prior to 1893.
The trustees of the university contend that the intent of the testator was to give the fund absolutely to the University of Rochester, or, which is the same thing, to its trustees in their "corporate capacity, to be used for higher education of females, and that the several methods indicated for the use of the fund are mere suggestions of the testator, not intended to limit or qualify the absolute title of the university. If such an intent is found from the terms of the will taken together, then no statute of the state has been violated and no established rule of law as to testamentary dispositions of property, infringed.
What, then, was the intent of the testator as to the provisions in question as shown by what he himself put in his will to indicate it? While testator was educated as a lawyer and practiced as such during the earlier part of his life, and while he was an author of distinction upon ethnologie subjects, requiring accuracy and precision in statement, still these circumstances cannot be used to, affect the meaning of the words he employed so long as they are words in common use and not
“The courts have for a long time inclined very decidedly against adopting any construction of wills which would result in partial intestacy, unless absolutely forced upon them. This has been done partly as a rule of policy perhaps, but mainly as one calculated to carry into effect the presumed intention of the testator, for the fact of making a will raises a very strong presumption against any expectation or desire on the part of the testator of leaving any portion of his estate beyond the operation of the will.”
See, also, Schult v. Moll, 132 N. Y. 122 , 30 N. E. 377 , and cases there cited; Meeks v. Meeks, 161 N. Y. 71 , 55 N. E. 278 .
Again, courts are bound to presume that a testator intended to make a legal disposition of his estate, rather than a void or an illegal one. In Butler v. Butler, 3 Barb. Ch. 310 , Chancellor Walworth declares this rule to be that:
“In the construction of wills, if the language of the testator is such that it may be construed in two different senses, one of which would render the -disposition made of his property illegal and void, and the other would render it valid, the court should gi've that construction to his language which would make the disposition of his property effectual.”
See, also, Du Bois v. Ray, 35 N. Y. 162 , where Chief Justice Davies •reviews the earlier English and American cases which support this rule. Also Roe v. Vingut, 117 N. Y. 204 , 22 N. E. 933 ; Hopkins v. Kent, 145 N. Y. 363 , 40 N. E. 4 .
. This rule is also applied in the case of Greene v. Greene, 125 N. Y. 506 , 26 N. E. 739 , 21 Am. St. Rep. 743 , wdiere this language is used in the opinion of the court by Judge Gray:
“The doctrine established by the cases is that a trust estate will never be implied where it would render a will illegal and void. If we were to hold this devise to be an express trust, we should be doing a work which would result in overthrowing the whole testamentary scheme, for the accomplishment of no useful purpose and not demanded by any legal principle.”
Another rule of very ancient origin requires a liberal construction of ■testamentary provisions in favor of charities, which will be referred to in another connection.
Looking at the provisions of this will in question here in the light of these rules, we find the leading purpose of the testator to be to devote the principal of his estate, after his wife and son had enjoyed the income during their lives, and in case the son left no descendants, to promote female education of high grade in the city of Rochester under the management of the trustees of the University of Rochester. To accomplish that object, he directs his executors, on the death of his son without issue, to convert the whole estate, except his library, etc., into money, and to pay the same over to the trustees of the university. The University of Rochester is a corporation, under a charter issued many years before this will was made, which provides that its trustees shall be a body corporate; and it is settled by authority that a gift or grant to the trustees of a corporation for a corporate purpose is a gift or .grant to the corporation. N. Y. Institute, etc., v. How’s Ex’rs, 10 N.
I come now to consider the language of the will to see how far it supports the claim of the learned counsel for the collateral relatives that it discloses an intent that there should be no gift to the university, but to its trustees as individuals, in trust to found and incorporate a female college in Rochester. The third clause directs the executors, upon the termination of the two life estates and the death of the son without issue, to convert the estate'into money (except the cemetery lot, library, etc.), and to pay over the same to the trustees of the “University of Rochester for the purposes hereinafter named.” By the fourth clause he proceeds to state the purposes, and says:
“I desire to use my said estate for the purpose of female education of high grade in the city of Rochester, and under the management of the trustees of said university, the said institution to be made a part of said university, if the trustees choose to make it such, or to be kept independent and subject to their management and control. When said trustees shall have signified their acceptance of said devise and bequest, I direct my said executors to pay the said proceeds of my estate into the hands of the said trustees of the University of Rochester, to be held by them as a perpetual fund, and the income thereof to be devoted to the objects named.”
In this clause it is said testator discloses an intent to create a trust and to vest in individuals title to this large fund in perpetuity. While such a construction attributes to the testator the grossest ignorance as to the statutory law of the state, which had long prohibited such trust to extend beyond two lives in being, still we must take the clause as we find it and give it the meaning its language naturally imports. It will be observed that testator does not say in words that he gives the fund “in trust,” which we should expect, if he so intended. If he intended to create a trust, he left it to inference. Nevertheless, this circumstance is not controlling, as a trust may be created without any set form of words, if the intent appears. But, if a trust was intended and the trustees of the university in office at the death of the son were to be its trustees, then those individuals would continue trustees of the fund, though they might cease to be trustees of the university; and in time, as changes occurred, a majority of the trustees of the university would have no voice in the management of the fund, for no provision is made for making the subsequently appointed trustees of the university also trustees of the fund. Thus, in time, the management of the fund would
The use of the word “institution” in this clause is not, in my opinion, inconsistent with an intent on the part of testator to give the fund absolutely to the University of Rochester. The context shows clearly that the creation of a separate corporation was not contemplated, for the “institution” was to be made a part of the University of Rochester, if the trustees chose to make it such, or to be kept independent. In either case it was to be the same “institution.” If made a separate corporation, it could not, of course, be made a part of another corporation, the University of Rochester. -I think the word “institution” in this connection was intended to refer to the place or building where the female students were to receive their instruction, or should have their collegiate residence. Thus the trustees of the university would be at liberty to erect dormitories on the university campus for the female students and have them attend with the male students in the chapel and classroom. The institution would then be a part of the university. Or, if this plan was not found advisable, then the sexes could be kept separate and the buildings and recitation rooms for the female students located elsewhere in the city of Rochester and be independent of the male department, but still under the control and management of the trustees of the university. I think it cannot be said from this clause, or from the will as a whole, that testator contemplated any greater separation or independence of the two institutions than this. The charter of the university was broad enough to enable it to give higher female education. Why should testator desire or intend another corporation to be formed for that purpose to be managed by the same men ? No sufficient reason has been suggested, and the language of the will does not, I think, have that meaning or require that interpretation. In the fifth clause testator says:
“Since 1873, before which this plan was formed, my estate has shrunk and it will be necessary to accumulate it, or it may be that parties will co-operate in the work of founding a female college in Rochester. I would, much prefer that the fund herein provided be used in connection with other funds contributed for the same object, that an institution might be created commensurate with the position and wants of Rochester.”
There is nothing in the sixth clause of the will requiring a different interpretation of it as a whole than has already been given to it in construing the previous clauses. In that clause he gives to his son the use of his library, collections, and cases for life, and then provides, as follows :
“And. after Ms decease, I give the same to the institution' named herein, should the trustees of the university accept the trust hereby created.”
Technically, the only “institution” which the testator has previously named is the University of Rochester, and it being our duty to sustain
I am also of opinion that the word "trust,” used in the expression “should the trustees of the University accept the trust hereby created,” does not signify a technical legal trust, but refers to the confidence implied by the testator in vesting his property which he intended to devote to a great public work in the university corporation to be managed by its trustees.
Thus far I have considered this will as if its construction and legal effect were controlled by the law as understood and interpreted by the courts at the death of the testator in 1881; and while I concede that a different construction can be made of the language employed by the testator, whereby an intent can be spelled out to create a trust in the trustees of the university considered as individuals, which would suspend the absolute ownership of the fund beyond the prohibited period and require an illegal accumulation of income, and which would also be void because the testator failed to designate the beneficiaries of the trust with sufficient definiteness to permit of its enforcement, still I think such a construction is not required by anything contained in the will itself, and that, as between the two constructions, assuming that the reasons in support of each are equally weighty, that one should be adopted which will render the will valid, rather than void, and result in the testator’s property being used for the purpose which he intended.
It is contended, however, by the learned counsel for the university that this will may be sustained and pronounced valid, even if construed to create a trust in the trustees of the university as individuals; and this contention is based upon the effect of chapter 701 of the Laws of 1893. Section 1 of that act (Laws 1893, p. 1748) is as follows:
“No gift, grant, bequest or devise to religious, educational, charitable, or benevolent uses, which shall in other respects be valid under the laws of this state, shall or be deemed invalid by reason of the indefiniteness or uncertainty of the persons designated as the beneficiaries thereunder in the instrument creating the same if in the instrument creating such a gift, grant, bequest or devise, there is a trustee named to execute the same. The legal title to the lands or property given, granted, devised or bequeathed for such purposes shall vest in such trustee. If no person be named as trustee, then the title to such land or property shall vest in the Supreme Court.”
It follows that if the gift to the trustees of the university was in
If I am correct in holding that the sister and nephews and nieces acquired no interest, vested or contingent, in the personal property of Lewis H. Morgan not effectually disposed of by his will, then the complaint in this action must be dismissed, even if I am wrong in the construction which I have given to this will, and without reference to the other questions which have been so ably presented by counsel. For that reason I shall not undertake to discuss or express any opinion upon these other questions. It is sufficient to say that the administrator of the estate of Lemuel S. Morgan, he having died intestate, is alone entitled to administer his estate and to recover such interest, if any, as he became entitled to in the funds involved in this action not effectually disposed of by the will of his father.
The plaintiff’s complaint must, therefore, be dismissed, with costs against plaintiff and against the defendant Mrs. Porter, and in favor of the defendants the trustees of the University of Rochester.
Findings may be prepared accordingly and will be settled upon two days’ notice.
Ordered accordingly.
Cases cited
- Schult v. Moll 132 N. Y. 122 p. 1005
- In re the Will of Miller 161 N. Y. 71 p. 1005
- Du Bois v. Ray 35 N. Y. 162 p. 1005
- Roe v. Vingut 117 N. Y. 204 p. 1005
- Hopkins v. Kent 145 N. Y. 363 p. 1005
- Greene v. Greene 125 N. Y. 506 p. 1005
- Allen v. Stevens 161 N. Y. 122 p. 1010
- People v. Powers 147 N. Y. 104 p. 1010
- Murray v. Miller 178 N. Y. 316 p. 1010
- Gallagher v. Crooks 132 N. Y. 338 p. 1010
- Herzog v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co. 177 N. Y. 86 p. 1010