2 Del. Ch. 421 | Del. | 1848
delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court, as
follows :
■ Benjamin Potter, the testator, by his last will and testament, bearing date the 26th day of June, 1839, and by sundry codicils thereto, after disposing of and giving certain portions of his estate to his relatives and friends, devised all the balance or residue of
The questions presented by the case stated are whether the devise so made, in and by the 18th item of the said last will and testament and the several codicils thereto, unto and for the charitable uses, objects and purposes in manner and form set forth in the case stated, are valid and capable of being sustained and carried out in a court of chancery, according to the rules and principles of a court of equity; or whether the same are void or illegal, and not capable of being sustained and carried out in' a court of chancery, according to the rules and principles of equity.
The important principles of law which are applicable to the subject matter of this suit, have been the subject of much labor and research, and have elicited a vast amount of legal learning; and much has been displayed in the argument of this cause. Therefore, although we by no means look upon this case as one free from difficulty and obscurity, yet in its adjudication we are not left entirely in the dark, without a light or beacon to guide us; but our pathway is lighted up by the opinions and decisions of some of the ablest jurists that ever adorned the Bench, as well of this country as of that from which we derived our code of laws.
Assuming the fact, which is conceded in the argument, that the testator designed by this devise to create a trust for charitable uses and purposes, and that he employed proper and suitable language to convey the legal estate to the trustees, we proceed to the consideration of the respective questions presented by the case stated and the arguments in the cause.
It can scarcely be necessary to do more than merely glance at the objections made to the validity of this devise on the ground that
It is said, however, that the objection to the validity of this devise is rather on account of the uncertainty of the cestuis que trust than for the want of trustees; and it is insisted that the description of the beneficiaries is so vague and uncertain that,even if there were a power of seleption appointed, the devise must fail as a trust.
The class of persons intended to be the recipients of the testator's bounty are described by him as the “ poor of Kent County, who by timely assistance may be kept from being carried tó the Poor House and becoming inmates thereof; ” And the tesjator directs the distrj
Is this description of the beneficiaries so vague and indefinite that they cannot be selected and ascertained by the agents who were to be appointed by the Orphans’ Court or Levy Court ? Are they not as susceptible of ascertainment as “the poor inhabitants of Saint Leonard Shoreditch,” in the case of Atty. Gen’l vs. Clarke,Ambler's Reports,422 ? This was a bequest of the interest of £4200, of bank annuities, to “ the poor inhabitants of Saint Leonard Shoreditch and it was insisted by the defendants that the bequest jvas void for uncertainty in the description of the persons to take ; but the bequest was sustained and the fund distributed among the poor inhabitants not receiving alms. The description in this case was much more general than in the one now under consideration, but the distribution of the fund was confined to the poor of Saint Leonard Shoreditch not receiving alms ; for, without such restriction, it was said the rich as Well as the poor would be benefited, which could not have been the intention of the testator.
In this case Col. Potter restricts the distribution of the fund to the poor of Kent County who by timely assistance may be prevented from becoming inmates of the Poor House; and he expressly prohibits the bestowal of any part of his bounty upon any persons not within this description, or who are inmates of the Poor House.
A bequest was made for the benefit of the poor dissenting ministers of the gospel residing and living in any of the counties of England, to be paid to the treasurer of such charitable society or fund for the time being, for that purpose, as the major part of them should direct or appoint. It appeared that there were three distinct societies of dissenters, and that collections were made for the poor ministers of each. It was held that the bequest was not void for uncertainty ; but that the fund should be distributed to and among the poor ministers of each society. Walter vs. Childs, Ambler’s R. 524.
The beneficiaries are said to be further uncertain, because no effectual provision is made by the testator for their selection ; and in support of this objection it is argued that under the provision made by the testator the power of selection is vested nowhere; that it does not exist solely in either of the courts named, nor in both collectively; and, therefore, it is contended, that neither can make
•In the case now under consideration the devise is not so general; but the testator designated and described the objects of his bounty and marked out the plan by which it was to be distributed. The principle which governed the cases just referred to, therefore, applies a fortiori to this case; the appointment of the agents, merely, to effect the distribution of the fund in the mode and to the persons designated and described by the testator, being the defect sought to be supplied by the aid of the Court of Chancery.
The argument against validity of this devise for want of certainty
Another objection taken to the validity of the devise is that it creates a perpetuity, and thus renders the lands devised forever inalienable, being devised to the trustees to be by them rented and the net proceeds to be applied for the uses and purposes of the trust. As a general principle, it is true that the law prohibits such dispositions of real estate, and in general it cannot be thus tied up ; but it nevertheless in this, as in many other respects, makes charity an exception to this rule against perpetuities. Lewis on Perpetuity, 687 ; (52 Law Lib. 437.) It follows, from the nature of the purposes and objects to which the property is devoted and the character of the ownership to which it is subjected, that for all practicable purposes it will be in dead or unserviceable hands. This, it is obvious, is the characteristic of alienations to charitable uses : it is in the very nature of such dispositions to withdraw the subject of them from any kind of circulation, as a contrary course would defeat the manifest object, which is the sustentation of the charitable institutions, or the carrying out in continuity of the benevolent purposes for which they are made.
But it is said that our statutory law prohibits the disposition of lands in perpetuity, and that the devise in this case is void on that ground. There are but two statutes in this State which at all approximate to the subject. The one is that of 17 Geo.II, passed in 1744, entitled “An Act for the enabling religious societies of Protestants within this government to purchase lands for burying ground, churches, houses for worship, schools, &c.” This Act authorizes religious societies of Protestants to purchase, take and receive, by gift, grant or otherwise, land for burying-grounds, erecting churches, houses of religious worship, schools, and alms-houses, for any estate whatsoever,and to hold the same for such uses andpurposes ;provided, (by the fourth section) that nothing in the act contained should be deemed, taken or construed to enable any of the said religious societies of people, or any person or persons whatsoever in trust for them or to their use, to purchase, take dr receive any lands or tenements by gift, grant or otherwise, for or towards the maintenance or support of the said churches, houses of worship, schools, or alms-houses, or the people belonging to the same, or for any other use or purpose save for the uses in the Act before mentioned. It is n,ot contended that the devise in question is rendered invalid by this Act, or in any wise afltected by it; but it is insisted that any devise of land, or
The case now under consideration is of a different character ; and altogether unlike that of a devise to trustees of a religious society. It cannot be classed among the mischiefs intended to be guarded against by our Statute; nor does it fall within their prohibtion.
In the view which we have taken of this case it is one of a valid trust for charitable uses and purposes, with trustee appointed by the testator to execute it, with the aid of agents, to be appointed, to select the objects of the testator’s bounty in a mode sufficiently indicated by the testator, and which is not prohibited or rendered invalid by any statute of this State.
The remaining and perhaps the most important question, next to be considered, is,“ whether the devise is capable of being sustained and carried out in a court of chancery, according to the rules and principles of equity.”
This objection leads to the inquiry whether the Court of Chanceryf prior to and independent of the Statute 43 Elizabeth, had jurisdiction to enforce charitable uses, or whether its jurisdiction was derived solely from that Statute. We find no evidence on the face of the S tatute itself that such j urisdiction was conferred by it. It contains no provision from which such a conclusion can be drawn, either directly or inferentially, except in case of appeal from the commissioners. The Statute itself, then, affording no evidence as to the source from whence this jurisdiction was derived we are obliged to seek other information; and we know of none so likely to lead us to proper and correct conclusions as adjudged cases by learned and able jurists, whose opinions have been formed upon a thorough investigation of the subject and are the result of much labor and research. In the case of Eyre vs. the Countess of Shaftsbury, 2 P. Wms. 119, Sir Joseph Jekyll said “ in the case of charity the King,pro bona publico, has an original right to superintend the care thereof, so that, abstracted from the Statute of Elizabeth relating to charitable uses,
The Baptist Association case, and those of Virginia and Maryland which were evidently decided on its authority, and of course must fall with it, being thus stricken, as it were, from the catalogue of judicial decisions, the question rests on the authority of adjudged' cases in several of the different States, affirmed by the United States Court in the case of Vidal vs. the Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of Philadelphia, just referred to, all going to establish most conclusively an inherent jurisdiction in the Court of Chancery anterior to, and independent of, the Statute of 43 Elizabeth.
If the Court of Chancery in England is clothed with this jurisdiction, the same jurisdiction belongs to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware. Equity jurisdiction in this State was originally vested in the Court of Common Pleas,and the Justices of that Court were clothed with the powers of the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain and required to observe the rules and practice of that Court in the exercise of the jurisdiction thus conferred upon
Under the view which we have taken of the respective branches of this case, it is the opinion of the Court that the decree of the Chancellor ought to be, and it accordingly is, hereby, affirmed.