Andrews v. General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church
Andrews v. General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church
Opinion of the Court
In this case, two legacies, given by the will of Henry Pope, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, who died in 1827, were declared void by the Assistant Vice-Chancellor of the first district, and by the Superior Court of the city of New York.
By one bequest, the testator gave to the Auxiliary Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, at the death of the last survivor of four annuitants, named in the will, fifteen hundred dollars, to be placed at interest, and the interest added to the principal for twenty-one years, or until the sum should amount to five thousand dollars (whichever should first happen), and the income thereafter to be expended in the purchase and gratuitous distribution of common prayer books.
By the other bequest, the testator gave certain coins and medals, and the sum of two thousand dollars, to the
The charter of the Auxiliary New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, granted in 1817, expired in 1837. That society was organized, and had, during its existence, acted as an auxiliary to the New York
The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, which was, at the death of the last surviving annuitant (which occurred in 1844), and still is, an incorporated seminary in this state, answering the description given in the will, claimed the coins and medals, and the legacy of two thousand dollars.
The trustees named in the will refused to accept the trust. An administrator with the will annexed was made a defendant in the bill, which was filed by residuary legatees, to obtain a construction of the will and a distribution of the estate.
The Court of Appeals reversed the decrees made by the Assistant Vice-Chancellor and the Superior Court, upon the ground that all the bequests might eventually be sustained, as gifts to religious and charitable uses, but without determining absolutely that question, as there was no trustee or person before the court who could claim the disposition of the legacy given to the Auxiliary Bible and Common Prayer Book Society. The record was remitted, with leave to the complainants to amend their bill so as to make the Attorney-General a party, and to proceed with the cause in the courts below.
(S. C., 4 Sandf. 106; 8 N. Y. 559.)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Andrews and others against The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, The New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society and others
- Status
- Published