28 Md. 338 | Md. | 1868
delivered the opinion of this Court.
This is a suit at law, upon an executor’s bond to recover a bequest of a moiety of the residue of her personal estate, made by the testatrix, Mary E. A. Reed, “ to the Methodist Episcopal Church at G-reensborough.” By the pleadings, upon which alone the case is before us, it is admitted that at the time the will took effect, this church was not incorporated, but that since the death of the testatrix it became incorporated under the provisions of the Act of 1802, ch. 111. As a general rule it is clear that a bequest or devise to an unincorporated association is void, and it is only by virtue of that peculiar jurisdiction exercised by Courts of Equity, in regard to charitable uses, that such bequests have ever been sustained. In the case of The Baptist Association
• This bequest must, therefore, be held void, because there was at the time the will took effect, no legatee in being capable of taking it. Regarded as a bequest to “ any religious sect, order or denomination,” it was also void under the provisions of the 35th Article of the Declaration of Rights of 1851, then in force, “ without the leave of the Legislature.” Whether this leave could be validly given by the antecedent General Laws of 1802, ch. 111, sec. 8, and 1815, ch. 222, or whether a special antecedent law was necessary in each case, or whether the leave could be given by a subsequent Act as was attempted in this case by the Act of 1856, ch. 307, are questions which it is unnecessary to determine because we are
The third replication presents another question, viz: that the right to this legacy had been definitively adjudicated in favor of the trustees by the Orphans’ Court of Caroline county, upon petitions filed in behalf of the next of kin and by the trustees of the church. This determination is said to be conclusive, being the decision of a Court of competent jurisdiction to adjudicate and decide finally the matter in controversy. In Craufurd’s Adm’r vs. Craufurd, et al., 22 Md. Rep., 447, this Court decided that under the provisions of our testamentary law, the Orphans’ Courts have power to determine who are next of kin, and to decide between parties claiming adversely to each other and determine which of them are next of kin entitled to distribution, but that decision does not go to the extent of holding that these Courts have jurisdiction to decide questions like the present, involving the validity or invalidity of a bequest under a will. Such questions can only be determined in the Courts of Law or Equity. The Orphans’ Courts have no jurisdiction save what is conferred by statute. They are
Judgment affirmed.