197 A. 150 | Pa. | 1938
Minnie L. Jordan died in 1932 leaving a certain part of her estate "to charity." She appointed no trustee. Because of this fact and in view of her further omission to specify any particular charities, her next of kin claimed the fund under the Act of July 7, 1885, P. L. 259, on the ground that the gift was void for uncertainty. Their contention was rejected by the court below, which, proceeding under the tenth section of the Act of April 26, 1855, P. L. 328 (amended by the Act of May 23, 1895, P. L. 114), appointed a trustee, who subsequently designated certain charitable institutions to share the decedent's bequest. The next of kin have appealed.
The testatrix's obvious intention was the creation of a charitable trust: see Restatement, Trusts, section 397, comment f; Bogert, Trusts and Trustees, section 371. That such a trust shall not fail for want of a trustee has been settled ever since the Act of 1855, supra, under which the duty of supplying a fiduciary is enjoined upon the court: Shand's Estate,
Nor is the gift rendered void because of the testatrix's neglect to specify particular charitable objects. "Indeed, it is said that vagueness is, in some respects, essential to a good gift for a public charity, and that a public charity begins where uncertainty in the recipient begins": Perry, Trusts and Trustees (7th ed.), section 687. Charities have always been favorites of our law (Daly's Estate,
The decree is affirmed at appellants' cost.
