148 Ga. 712 | Ga. | 1919
(After stating the foregoing facts.) '
1. In construing a deed the entire instrument must be looked at, and all parts construed together, in order to determine the 'intention of the maker, without special regard to the formal arrangement of the deed. The interpretation should be such as will effectuate the intention, and it is proper to seek for a rational purpose by construing the deed consistently with reason and common sense. If there is any doubt as to the real intention, an interpretation which plainly leads to injustice should be rejected, and one which conforms more to the meaning of the grantor, and does not produce unusual and unjust results, should be adopted. Williams v. Williams, 175 N. C. 160 (95 S. E. 157); Anderson v. Stuart (Ill.), 121 N. E. 198, 201 (5) and authorities cited; Civil Code (1910), § 4187.
In deeds, as in all other contracts,' none of the words are to be considered as redundant, if a reasonable intendment can be given them. This deed would have completely conveyed an equitable interest in the life-estate, and constituted a trustee therefor, without that provision in the habendum clause to the effect that the trust property or trust fund is- to remain and continue in trust for the benefit of the wife during her natural life, and after her death to her children.. What was, therefore, the purpose of placing these additional words in the habendum clause? No legitimate purpose is conceivable except to provide for a continuance of the trust after the death of the wife, for. it is specifically stated that the trust property or trust fund is to remain and continue in trust for the wife and after her death to her children. If not intended to have this effect, these words are meaningless and sheer surplusage. The deed conveys the land to the trustee in trust “for the sole and separate use and benefit of . . E. Emma Woodbery during her natural life, . . and after her death to her children,” etc. The habendum clause provides that the trustee is to hold, “in trust for the purposes mentioned . . The trust property or trust fund is to remain and continue in trust for the sole and separate use and benefit of her, the said E. Emma Woodbery, for and during her natural life, . . and the trust property or trust fund, after the death of the said E. Emma Woodbery, to her children,” etc. At the date of the making of this convey
The deed in the Cushman case, just cited, was very similar to -the deed under construction here. It conveyed land in trust for the sole and separate use of a married woman during her natural life, and at her death “in trust to be equally divided in trust between children in life at her death,” etc. A difference between the two deeds is that the deed in this case provides that the trust property or trust fund remains and continues through the life-estate, and, after the death of the life-tenant, “to her children,” if any. In the one deed the expression “equally divided in trust” is used, while the other refers to the property as the “trust property or trust fund” to “remain and continue in trust.” As was said in the Cushman case, it must be said in the present ease, that “full title passed out of” the grantor. “Where did it vest? Certainly, in the trustee, so far as the life-estate was concerned. The legal title in remainder could not immediately vest in the re
2-4. The second, third, and fourth headnotes need not be discussed. The authorities therein cited are sufficient elucidation.
5. The power of sale contained in the deed authorized the trustee to sell the entire estate in the land, and E. Emma Woodbery as trustee therefore conveyed fee-simple title to her grantee under her deed of September 1, 1877. Section 3754 of our Civil Code declares : "Where a trust deed, or other, instrument, limits an estate in fee, for life or with remainders over, and in the same conveyance a power to sell, incumber, or otherwise dispose of the property is reserved or created, the power is to be construed to extqnd to a sale, incumbrance, or disposition of the fee, unless expressly or by necessary implication limited to a smaller estate.” It is impossible to find in the language of the deed under construction any express or implied limitation of the estate to be sold; and it necessarily follows that it was the intention of the grantor to create a power ^o sell the fee-simple estate. Headen v. Quillian, 92 Ga. 220, 222 (18 S. E. 543). The trustee having the power of sale with the written consent of the life-tenant, the trust subsisted for that purpose. Heath v. Miller, 117 Ga. 854, 857-859 (44 S. E. 13); Stiles v. Cummings, 122 Ga. 635, 640 (50 S. E. 484); Rosier v. Nichols, 123 Ga. 20, 24 (50 S. E. 988).
Judgment affirmed.