15 Wend. 436 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1836
By the Court,
The plaintiff makes and relies on the following objections to the defendant’s title : 1. That the several acts of the legislature, passed on the application of Thomas B. Clarke, are, as against his children, unconstitutional and void ; 2. That the orders of the chancellor were not made in pursuance of the acts of the legislature; and 3. That the deed of Clarke to De Grasse was not made in pursuance of the order of the chancellor, inasmuch as it was not at the time approved by a master in chancery.
The validity of these acts of the legislature was discussed by the counsel, in the case of Sinclair v. Jackson, in the court -for the correction of errors ; but the decision turned upon another point, and the court cautiously avoided expressing any opinion on the question. 8 Cowen, 543, Opinion of Chancellor Jones, 579.
When the first act was passed, all the persons interested in the trust ■ estate, who were capable of acting for themselves, were before the legislature. Thomas B. Clarke, tenant for life in his own right, and the natural guardian of his children, to whom the remainder was limited ; Clement C. Moore, the contingent remainder-man in fee, and the trustees named in the will, were all applicants for the law. The trustees had the whole legal estate, and represented the children of Thomas B. Clarke as fully as they could in any form have been represented on that occasion. If, therefore, the legislature had not the power to pass this statute, it must be on the ground that, under no possible circumstances could the rights
In England, private acts of parliament have become a common mode of assurance. “ It may sometimes happen,” says Judge Blackstone, “ that by the ingenuity of some and the blunders of other practitioners, an estate is most grievously entangled by a multitude of contingent remainders, resulting trusts, springing uses, executory devises, and the like artificial contrivances, (a confusion unknown to the simple conveyances of the common law,) so that it is out of the power of either the courts of law or equity to relieve the owner ; or it may sometimes happen that by the strictness or omissions of family settlements, the tenant of the estate is abridged of some reasonable power, (as letting leases, making a jointure for a wife, or the like,) which power cannot be given him by the ordinary judges, either in common law or equity ; or it may be necessary, in settling an estate, to secure it against the claims of infants or other persons under legal disabilities, who are not bound by any judgments or decrees of the ordinary courts of justice. In these, or other cases of the like kind, the transcendant power of parliament is called in to cut the gordian knot; and by a particular law, enacted for this very purpose, to unfetter an estate, to give its tenant reasonable powers, or to assure it to a purchaser against the remote or latent' claims of infants or disabled persons, by settling a proper equivalent in proportion to the interest so barred.” 2 Black. Com. 344,5. In Cruise’s Dig. tit. XXXDI, Private Act, many of the cases are collected in which private acts of parliament have come under adjudication in courts of justice. Infants and other disabled persons have been bound in this manner under a great variety of circumstances. Where an opportunity offers to sell the estate to great advantage, a private act has been obtained for that purpose, with directions to lay out the money in the purchase of other lands to be settled to the same uses. Where an estate is charged with the payment of a sum of money, a sale has in this manner been authorized, in trust to pay the debt and invest the surplus in the purchase of other lands to the old uses. The tenant for life has been empowered to make leases for a long term of
I do not think that acts of this description depend for their validity on what has sometimes been called the omnipotent power of parliament. In general, they provide for events which the donor of the estate did not anticipate, and make such a disposition of the property as it may reasonably be supposed the owner would approve, if he were in a condition to act. Transcendant as are the powers of parliament, it may be doubted whether private rights of property are any where more scrupulously regarded than they are in England. Special laws affecting individual interests are only passed upon the most weighty considerations and the precautions which are usually observed for the protection of the substantial rights of the parties are worthy of all commendation.
In consequence of the imperfection which pervades all appertaining to man, cases will sometimes arise which have not been provided for by general laws, and which call for the ex- . ercise of a higher power than that possessed by courts of justice ; and if individual interests can under no possible circumstances, be ¿hanged or affected by private acts of the legislature, made without consent, it may happen that an infant, with a large estate in expectancy, will be utterly destitute of the means of education and support. Although the legislature ought not to interfere upon light considerations, I cannot think that there is any constitutional impediment in the way of enacting private laws affecting individual interests,. where proper care is taken to preserve the substantial rights of the parties.
The leading features of the acts in question a.re, first, that they change the trustees appointed by the will of Mrs. Clarke, and second, they authorize a sale of a part of the estate, with
By the act of 1814, the new trustees were authorized to sell one equal moiety of the Greemoich property, and the house and lot occupied by Byron, and convey the same in fee to the purchasers. The principal moneys or proceeds of the sales were to be invested in stocks or real securities, and to be held by the trustees “ according to the said will, that is to say, in
Although it is much the better course to enact general laws and leave their administration to the courts of justice, I cannot think the acts relating to the estate of Mrs. Clarke unconstitutional, merely on the ground that they provide' for a particular case, without extending in their influence to every other case of a like character. The counsel for the plaintiff referred to the 13th section of the former constitution of this state, which was in force at the time when these laws were passed, and which declares, “ that no member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to the subjects of this state by this constitution, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers.” If the case under consideration were much stronger than it is, and the property of one person had been taken and given to another, without consent, and without an equivalent, it would have been difficult to show that the owner had been deprived of any right or privilege which had, in terms, been secured to him by that constitution. Whether, upon general principles, such a law would not be void as beyond the scope of legislative power, need not now be discussed. It is enough for this case to say, that in no proper or just sense of the terms, has the plaintiff been deprived of any right or privilege. She was an infant, incapable of Contracting for herself—destitute of the means of support and education, and without a natural guardian of sufficient ability to provide for her necessities. To relieve her from this situation, the legislature lent its aid, and placed a portion of the property within her reach. She was allowed to anticipate the period assigned in the will for the enjoyment of
The next objection on,the part, of the plaintiff is, that the orders of the chancellor were not made in pursuance of the acts of the legislature. I think it may be doubted whether the acts of 1-814 and 1815 -authorized the trustee to apply any part of the principal of the monies to be derived from sales to the education and support of the children; but the chancellor, by his order of the 3d July, 1815, evidently gave those, acts such a construction as reached the principal as well as the interest of the purchase moneys; and it is probable that the act of 1816 was intended, among other things, to sanction the view which the chancellor had taken of the question. It authorized Clarke, “ under the order heretofore granted by the chancellor, or under any subsequent order, either to mortgage or sell,” and to apply the money “ to the purposes required, or to be required by the chancellor, under the acts heretofore passed for the relief of the said Thomas B. Clarke.” The greatest difficulty in upholding the orders of the chancellor arises from the fact, that they allow Clarke to apply a part of the proceeds of the land to the payment of his debts. If the debts to be paid were only such as he had incurred'in the necessary support and .education of his children, there was nothing very objectionable in the provision ; and perhaps that is the reasonable interpretation of the orders, although it must, I think, be admitted that they were not- drawn up with all the caution, which should be ¡observed in dealing with the estates of infa'nts and Others who are incapable of acting for themselves. On. making the order of July 3d, 1815, it appeared, from the master’s report, .that the income, of the trust property was then- and for a long time had been inadequate
The only remaining inquiry is, whether the deed of Clarke to De Grasse, under which the defendant claims, was made in pursuance of the order of the chancellor. It was executed in 1821, and was not approved by a master until 1832-—about
Judgment for the defendant.