Burnsides' Administrator v. Wall
Burnsides' Administrator v. Wall
Opinion of the Court
delivered Hie opinion of the Court. To this opinion a petition for re-hearing was filed and the opinion sus. ponded until 2d July, 18dil, when the suspension was removed.
By his last will, executed in July, 1839, and admitted to record in the following December, Robert Burnsides, after directing the payment of his debts, devises to his wife during her life or widowhood, all his land and plantation, together with such household and kitchen furniture as she might select, and also eight slaves by name, of whom one was to be free at a designated period. He also devised to her absolutely, a considerable amount of personal estate. He then directs his slaves not devised to his wife nor otherwise disposed of by the will, to be divided into seven equal shares or lots, of which he gives one share in trust, for the use and benefit of the children of a deceased daughter, and one in trust, for each of five living daughters and their children, declaring it to be his intention to make an equal division of his slaves, and to secure to each of his daughters and their children, the slaves so devised, against any and all casualties. Pie then gives one slave absolutely to his son Robert, to whom he also gives an additional slave designated by name, having made a like gift to each of his daughters, on marriage. The fourth ■ clause of the will is as follows: “After the death or termination of the estate hereby devised to my wife, it is my will that all my land be sold by my executors, upon such terms as they may deem expedient, and the proceeds thereof be equally divided between all my children or their descendants, giving to the descendants of such as may die, the same share that the parent would be entitled to if living. And it is also my will, that the slaves above devised to her, except Dick, (the one to be
Some time after the testator’s death, Nancy Wall, one of the testator’s daughters, and the wife of Michael Wall, died, leaving her husband and one child, born as we understand, but a short time before her death, and which died not long after it, leaving Michael Wall still surviving. Afterwards, in 1845, an arrangement was made between the other six claimants under the will, and the widow of the testator, by which she surrendered for the purposes of the will, the land and personalty devised to her for life, lo be sold and the proceeds to be distributed as therein directed; and also surrendered the slaves to be divided according to the will, in consideration of which she was to receive from the other parties to the arrangement, twelve'hundred dollars, to be paid as the instalments for the land should fall due, but to be repaid at her death. Under this arrangement, the slaves were divided among the other devisees, excluding Wall, and the land and personalty were sold.
In February, 1846, M. Wall filed this bill, claiming one seventh part of the slaves thus surrendered by the devisee for life, and one seventh part of the proceeds of the land and personalty surrendered by her. We do not understand the bill as setting up any claim on
The surviving devisees and the 'administrator, (with the will annexed,) resist the claim thus - restricted, on the ground — first, that under the will, the complainant has no interest, and never can have any in the property devised to the widow for life, or in the proceeds of such part of it as is directed to be sold. And second, that if he has any interest, it is only to be enjoyed after the death or marriage of the widow, and that he is not entitled to any benefit under the arrangement made with her.
The Court, however, decided that the estate devised to the widow was at an end, and that the complainant was entitled to the share of one seventh which his wife or child would have received if alive, and decreeing to him one seventh part of the proceeds of the land, (for which he was decreed to pay one seventh of the stipulated consideration,) directed an inquiry as to the number, value and hire of the slaves, and the proceeds of the personalty, preparatory to the final ascertainment and satisfaction of his claim.
We have stated the arrangement made with the devisee for life, as a surrender of her estate in the land and other property devised to her for life, because that was its legal as well as actual effect. And although-we might not concede that one or more of the ultimate devisees could not have purchased her interest and held it for their own exclusive benefit until her death or marriage, we are satisfied that the purchase having been made for the express purpose of expediting the execution of the ultimate devises, and for the express benefit of the ultimate devisees without exception, and being to be paid for in effect by the proceeds of the sale, to which all were entitled, the life estate under the will was terminated for the benefit of all, and consequently that the complainant, Wall, is as much entitled to par
The important question is, whether upon the termination of the life estate, he had any interest in the legacies ©r devises then to come into possession. In other words, did those legacies or devises so vest either '•indHS wife or his daughter., that he as the survivor is ■entitled either in the character of husband, or heir, or personal representative, or next of kin to either •of them, to the share to which either would have been entitled if slue were now living 1 If the will had simply directed the land (after the limitation of the life ■estate,) to be divided among his children, Mrs, Wall, as •one of the testator’s children living at his death, would ‘have had a vested remainder in one undivided seventh
part of the land, which on her death would have descended to her daughter, and on the death of the daughter in infancy-, would have descended not to her father, because it had come by descent from her mother, but by force of the sixth section of the act of 1796, (StaL Laio, 563,) would have descended to her mother’s brothers and sisters, and the descendents of such of them as were dead. And such would be the result as to any ■interest in the land, as land which may have vested in Mrs, Wall or her daughter, if it was transmissible according to law, and was not controlled by the will. The complainant, thus excluded as heir, would also be without right as tenant by the curtesy, because there had been no semin of the land in right of his wife during the coverture, And it being entirely clear that the actual terms of the devise, admit of no construction which would give him any interest as a direct devise, it follows that so far as- the land is to be regarded as retaining that character under the will, and if until the time when the sale is directed to- be made, the interests of the ultimate devisees as such, are to be regarded as in
He therefore claims in his bill, that the testatorhaving peremptorily directed a sale of the land and a division of the proceeds among his children or their descendants, the land in equity is to be considered as converted into money or personalty, and that as such he is entitled to it upon the events which have happened. We do not admit, however, that the land is to be regarded for all purposes, as being converted before the time or event when the sale might properly take place. And if the question were, what became of the land, or of any interest in it, upon the intermediate death of any devisee, wo would say that so far as it is not disposed of by the will, it passed according to the laws governing the transmission of real estate: Christler vs Meddis, (6 B. Monroe, 37;) Larkin vs Chambers, (Ms. opinion, July, 1845.) But the question is not in what course ■the land or any interest in it created by the will would have passed, but in what course the right to the proceeds passed, upon the death of any of the persons who might have been entitled, if living when the sale should have been made. And although the right to recover the proceeds gives the right to take the land in lieu of them, this latter right being a mere incident of the former, cannot control the course of its transmission, but is controlled by and follows it, and in fact does not exist except in the persons entitled to receive the proceeds, and therefore cannot aid in determining who are so entitled.
In whatever character the land itself, in view of the will, is to be regarded during the continuance of the estate of the testator’s widow, we are of opinion that the disposition made of the proceeds is to be regarded as a bequest of money, to be raised by the sale of land, and that so far as the will leaves its transmission prior lo the time when the land may be turned into money uncontrolled, its transmission is to be governed by the rules applicable to such bequests, and not by the rules relating to devises of real property.
Having ascertained that the disposition made of the proceeds is not a devise of any interest in the land, but a bequest of money to be raised by its sale, it is scarcely necessary to say that the devise of the land to one for life, and then of the proceeds of its sale to others, does not <create either a particular estate with a remainder in the land, or a particular interest with a remainder upon it in the money, because the subjects of the two devises being distinct, they cannot coalesce and form one estate which may be considered as parcelled out among different persons with respect to the period of enjoyment: (Williams on Executors, 778; Fearne on Remainders, 554; 3 Atk. 219; 3 Russ. ch. ca. 124.) And therefore the rules applicable to the vesting of remainders, either in personal or real estate, at the same time with the particular estate with which they are connected,, do not apply. And as this is not merely a bequest to the testator’s children, .or to all his children as a class, to be paid at a future time, or on a future event, the rule applicable to such a case, that the interest is to be considered as vested in the children living at his death, (and in a posthumous child should there be one,) so far as tobe transmissible according to law on the subsequent death of any of them, is not applicable. The express provision being sufficiently comprehensive in its own terms to embrace and provide for all possible descendants of the testator at the time when the legacy, is to be raised and paid, there is neither necessity nor room for any construction founded on the presumed intention of providing for all.
The question l'ather is, whether under a provision embracing expressly all descendants who could be his
The present bequest is in some respects analagous to these cases, and especially to the last, but being a pro
It is impossible to conclude that the testator intended to give the legacy exclusively to his children who might be living at his death, and the descendants of such as might be dead, leaving it to pass thenceforth according to law, because he expressly directs that the descendants of any that may die afterwards, shall receive a share or shares in the division, such descendants would undoubtedly take under the will, and not by representation or as next of kin to the decedent.' And as it is expressly provided that the descendants shall take the entire share to which the deceased parent would have been entitled, every other claim upon that share, except that of the descendants, if there be any, is expressly excluded, and as the testator provides not only for the death of one of his children, but for the death of any oí his children, or of their descendants, still directing the division to be made between his children or
But as we think the true construction of the clause in question, and that which alone will effectuate the manifest intention of the testator, is that he intended the proceeds of the sale to be divided among all his1 children who might be living at the termination of the life
The word “all,” used before the words “my children,” sadds nothing to the force or comprehensiveness of the latter words, “all my children,” embraces none but children, and is only equivalent to “my children.” The word all is in fact omitted in the residuary clause, in which the executors are directed to sell the personal estate not disposed of, and to divide the proceeds “among ipiy children or their descendents as above directed.” And this clause showing that the testator intended to die intestate as to no part of his property, fortified the construction by which the previous clause is understood as disposing of the entire proceeds of the land among the children living at the time referred to •and the descendants of such as were then dead. And We deem it certain that the concluding clause of the will explaining the difference in the disposition of the slaves and of the other property given to his daughters.
Conceiving 'it then, to 'have been the clear intention •of the testator, to dispose of the proceeds at the time when the sale and division are directed, and among his then living children and the descendents of such as had ■died, there is no room for the doctrine which seems to have been adopted in England with reference to future legacies chargeable upon land, and perhaps to contingent legacies, whether so chargeable or not, by which a mere possibility is 'held to be transmissible. In those -cases the bequest wás to á designated individual, and the contingency consisted in his living or dying before a ■certain period of event. Here the bequest is to a class, the 'individuals -of which cánnotbe ascertained until the happening of the event referred to, and the fund 'being ■expressly distributable among the individuals then belonging to the class, to allow the transmission of the mere possibility as previously existing in any one who ■might have been entitled, so as to disturb the distribution among those actually answering' the description of legatees at the time When the' event happens, would ■clearly violate the iñténfion expressed in their favor.
We' are of opinion, therefore, that the complainant is not entitled to any interest in the proceeds of the land, in right-of his deceased Wife or child; and as the grounds ■of this' eoncl'üsioh apply with at least as' much force, to the bequest of the slaves as to' that .of t'he proceeds of the land', his claim in reference to the slaves, must also be disallowed. With regard to the small personal property bequeathed to the testator’s wife for life, there '■Seems to be no express disposition of it after her death, and we are of opinion that it is not disposed of by the residuary clause. The complainant, as survivor of his Wife may, therefore, be' entitled tooné seventh part of the proceeds' of such property — but the case not being prepared for a décree with respect to it, no direction is given in relation to'it.
Wherefore, the decree is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to dismiss the bill so far as it claims an interest in the slaves and the proceeds of the land, and for further proceedings as to the personalty.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.