216 Pa. 141 | Pa. | 1906
Opinion by
This case presents a somewhat unusual feature in that, in its final determination in the co'urt below, the pleadings and findings by the judge who heard the case in the first instance,were entirely disregarded, and a conclusion was reached, expressed in the final decree, which rests solely upon judicial construction of the written instrument, the subject of the contention. The plaintiff alleged in his bill that a certain instrument by him executed, in form a deed of conveyance, duly acknowledged and recorded, was a will; that he had so understood it when he executed it; that he had given it into the possession of the party named as grantee, not by way of delivery, but for safe custody; and that it had been recorded by mistake and without his consent. The prayer was for the cancellation and surrender of the instrument, on the ground that as the matter stood it was a cloud upon his title to the property described in the instrument. In the answer filed the material averments in the bill were specifically denied, and in the replication issue was joined on the matters alleged. Some evidence was taken as to the effect of this outstanding instrument upon the plaintiff’s title in the general market, a matter about which there could be no controversy, but not a particle as to the facts in issue. The learned judge specially presiding at the time, with a correct appreciation of the issue raised by the pleadings in the case, and correctly applying equity rules, held that in the absence of all evidence in support of plaintiff’s averments, .these being specifically denied in the answer, the denial prevailed and the plaintiff was not entitled to the relief prayed for. He accordingly ordered the bill to be dismissed. Upon exceptions taken, and there were many, the learned president judge of the district, before whom the matter then came to be heard, holding, correctly enough, that the question in the case was whether the instrument in question operated as a present conveyance or a testamentary writing, determined from an inspection of the paper and that alone, without any regard to the pleadings, state of proofs or findings, that it was a will, and that, it had ;
Such summary disposition of the case was unwarranted. The case cited by the learned judge in support of his' conclusion, Turner v. Scott, 51 Pa. 126, is an unquestionable authority, and much that is there said is applicable here ; but it cannot be contended that the instrument here, the subject of the controversy, contains any such positive or unequivocal expression of purpose as was contained in the instrument there considered. In that case as in this, the instrument was in form a deed, but it contained the following express provision: “ this conveyance in no way to take effect until after the decease of the said John Scott, grantor.” That the form of the instrument there was allowed to be without any real significance, may be readily misunderstood. The case is no authority for the notion that the form of the instrument is in all cases immaterial. The effort in every case where judicial construction is required, must be to develop the purpose of the maker, to the end that such purpose may take effect, if the rights of others be not prejudiced thereby. Cases arise where by reason of obscurity of expression, such purpose may not readily or definitely be ascertained from the terms of the instrument itself ; in such cases the law calls to its aid whatever circumstances there may be in the case from which light may be reflected. Since the distinction in purpose between a deed and a will is so obvious and so generally understood, the fact that the form of one has been adopted rather than the other, is a circumstance which in some cases may be of large significance. What the case of Turner v. Scott, supra, is authority for is, that where the language used in the instrument to express the purpose of the maker admits of but one construction, or has definite legal import, such outside and collateral inquiries have no place in the investigation, for the reason that, in such case, it is not a question of what the party may have meant or intended, but what is the meaning of the words he has used. The instrument there was held, regardless of what'outside indications there were of the contrary intent, to be a will, because it expressly declared the purpose of the maker that it — the instrument itself — was to be without effect until his death, thus distinguishing it unmistakably as a
The decree is reversed at the cost of the appellee.