116 Misc. 628 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1921
The testator bequeathed his residuary estate to Cornell University for a special foundation if it would accept the same on the conditions named in the will, and otherwise to some similar institution of learning that would accept the gift on the same terms. The testator left a widow, and it is not disputed that the gift to Cornell University exceeds one-half of the net value of the estate. The executors bring this action to have determined whether they can tender the gift for acceptance to the extent of more than one-half the value of the estate. The question presented is whether the provision of the statute (Decedent Estate Law, § 17) applies to a university or college. That section provides: “ No person having a husband, wife, child or parent, shall, by his or her last will and testament, devise or bequeath to any benevolent, charitable, literary, scientific, religious or missionary society, association or corporation, in trust or otherwise, more than one-half part of his or her estate, after the payment of his or her debts, and such devise or bequest shall be valid to the extent of one-half and no more.” A university is an educational corporation. Is it embraced in the description used in the statute of a literary or scientific corporation? A college ordinarily may be regarded as an institution for teaching the arts and sciences. In that sense of broad nomenclature it is a literary and scientific corporation. Are the words in the statute to be construed as used in this comprehensive sense or do they refer only to certain corporations created, under corresponding divisions of the law for incorporation of particular kinds of corporations? The counsel for the university has traced the origin of this statute showing that it was first attached merely as a limitation upon the powers of certain corporations to receive and hold funds. These corporations did not include a college or
Ordered accordingly.