51 Pa. Super. 496 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1912
Opinion by
This is an appeal by the defendant from judgment in the plaintiff’s favor on a case stated in an action of ejectment. The instrument under which the plaintiff claims the land was executed in May, 1873, and reads as follows: “Know all men by these presents that I, Christian Sensabaugh, of Beaver Township, doth agree to lease to Beaver School, or to the Directors of said township, a certain piece or parcel of land situate in said township on the northwest corner of my farm, known as the Slayton farm, containing 1-3 of an acre for school purposes so long as it shall be used for school purposes, for the consideration of $5.00 to me in hand paid, and the Directors are to hold it as such and their successors in office as long as it shall be used for school purposes, after which this shall be null and void.” In 1892, Sensabaugh, the lessor, conveyed the farm, including the land in dispute, to the defendant, through which conveyance it is admitted the latter succeeded to the rights of the lessor in the school lot. Soon 'after the execution of the lease the school district erected a schoolhouse on the lot, and continued to hold school therein, and in a schoolhouse erected in its place, from 1873 or 1874 until some time in 1902, since which time no
The foregoing is an outline of the facts upon which, we think, the case turns. But before discussing the questions of law arising out of them, we will briefly refer to some other facts embraced in the case stated, and indicate our reasons for regarding them as not having such materiality as can affect the decision.
One of these facts is, that for a period (whether long or short is not stated) after the action of the directors in 1902 there were left on the premises a stove, a bookcase, a dictionary, some school books, and a chart on the wall. But it is also admitted that all of these articles, excepting the school books and the chart, were removed by the directors during the time in which no school was held there, and it is not stated that they were used or kept for use. The mere fact that these articles were not removed at once does not show, nor tend to show, that during the time they were kept there the lot was being used for school purposes, within the fair and reasonable intendment of the agreement.
Another fact alluded to is, that at a meeting of the board of directors in July, 1906, four years after they had ceased
Still another fact alluded to is, that at a meeting of the board on June 7, 1909, there being at that time eight or nine pupils in the district, a resolution was adopted “that we repair the Sensabaugh School House ready for school use, so we can start a school as soon as there is scholars enough to make one.” While this resolution expressed the determination of the directors to repair the schoolhouse, and perhaps shows inferentially that it was their intention to make the repairs soon, yet it fails to show that they intended to resume the use of the building for school purposes at that time, or at any fixed time in the future. Nor is the fact admitted in the case stated that they had such intention. Whether the directors were stimulated to the passage of this resolution by the fact that the defendant had taken possession, we cannot say; but we are quite clear that, whether that was or was not the impelling motive, they could not affect his right, under the facts as they existed when he took possession, by subsequently adopting a resolution to resume the use of the building for school purposes if and when at some indefinite time in the future there should be a sufficient number of scholars.
The broad statement, that a conveyance of land to trustees for a charitable use is not hable to be defeated by nonuser, is to be taken with a qualification depending on the nature of the conveyance, its limitation- of the estate or interest conveyed, and its limitation of the use intended to be protected by it. Thus, where land was conveyed to trustees and their successors to erect a schoolhouse
It is suggested, as another reason for concluding that the plaintiff was entitled to recover in the ejectment, that the termination of the rights of the school district under the lease, and the consequent accrual of the right of the defendant to re-enter when he did, were dependent on lawful abandonment of the schoolhouse by the directors of the district, and that there was no lawful abandonment because the provisions of sec. 4 of the Act of April 11,1862, P. L. 471, were not complied with. That section, so far as material here, provides that “no schoolhouse shall be
The contract in question was such as the parties had a right to make, and we have endeavored to show that there is nothing in the law relating to charitable uses, or in the act of 1862, to prevent us from giving effect to it according to the intention of the parties. This intention is to be ascertained from a consideration of all its provisions, bearing in mind always that the instrument is not a deed of the land in fee, but, at the most, a lease, if not a mere agreement to lease. To construe it as granting an estate
The remaining question to be considered is, whether there was such discontinuance of the use of the land for school purposes as terminated the estate. Of course, nonuser of the land for school purposes during the intervals between school terms was not the thing which the parties had in view in fixing the limit beyond which the estate should not endure. It may be assumed also that they foresaw that exigencies might arise, as, for example, the burning of the schoolhouse, an epidemic of contagious diseases, or the like, that would compel temporary suspension of the use of the land for school purposes, even
We conclude that the facts agreed upon are not sufficient, without more, to entitle the plaintiff to possession of the land; therefore, in accordance with the stipula
The judgment is reversed, and judgment is now entered on the case stated in favor of the defendant.