Dewitt v. Eldred
Dewitt v. Eldred
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
— It is unnecessary to consider the errors founded upon the bills of exception to the admission and rejection of evidence, as we are of opinion from the facts of the case, established as it appears by the evidence beyond all doubt or controversy, that the defendants or any one or more of them have no right whatever to hold the land in contest against the eldest son of Cornelius Dewitt, who is one of the plaintiffs, and claims as heir in tail to his father, according to the form of the gift contained jn the last will of Cornelius Dewitt, his grandfather.
The defendants also derive their claim to the land from the same will. On their behalf it is alleged that Cornelius Dewitt, the devisee and father of the plaintiffs, took an estate in fee in the land under the will, and that his right therein, as such, passed by the sheriff’s sale to Richard Eldred, one of the defendants, under whom the other defendants claim. In the expounding of wills the rule of law is, that a devise of land, without words of limitation added, only gives an estate for life, unless it can be found from the whole of the will taken together, and applied to the subject-matter of the devise, that the testator’s intention was to give a fee. But, in order to make a devise of land without limitation added a fee, such an intention must appear, as is sufficient to satisfy the conscience of the court in pronouncing it such; if it is barely problematical, the rule of law must take place. Bowes v. Blackett, (Cowp. 238, 240). As to the present case, it is clear that an estate in fee is not expressly given, nor yet in technical terms, by the will to Cornelius the devisee. An effort, however, has been made, by the
But it has been further contended that the moneys bequeathed by the testator to his daughters, to be paid by his son as directed in the will, show, according to 'the presumption which the law makes, of every testator’s intending to confer a benefit on the devisee by the devise, that the testator must therefore have intended, in this case, to give his son Cornelius a fee-simple estate in the devise, otherwise the latter, by paying the moneys as directed to the daughters, might be subjected to a loss instead of receiving a benefit; because it might be, for aught that could appear to the contrary, that he could not derive from the possession of the land for the term of his life merely, sufficient means to enable him to pay his sisters their respective legacies as they should become payable by the will; but invested with the fee-simple estate in the devise, he could make it amply sufficient for that purpose by either mortgaging or selling it if requisite.
Now in respect to the first and second grounds upon which it has been contended that Cornelius, the son, took a fee-simple in the land under the will, there does not appear to be the slightest .colour for holding them tenable, unless the subsequent clause of the will, which declares that “ said land is all entailed to my son Cornelius, so that he shall not sell or dispose of the same;” be thrown out of view altogether. But in construing the will of every testator, it is a well-settled rule that effect shall be given to every material word contained in it, if it can be done consistently with the other parts thereof, and with the rules and policy of the law relative thereto. Hence, by giving effect to the clause just recited, all speculation as to the nature and quantum of estate, which the testator intended his son should have in the land, would seem to be completely shut out, for he has thereby, in the most explicit terms, declared that it is all entailed to his son; in other words, that his son Cornelius shall have a fee-tail general in all his land, and nothing more or less. The language of the clause in this respect is free from all ambiguity, and wholly incapable of receiving any other meaning, whether taken in a legal or common sense. In order, however, to parry the force and avoid the natural operation of this clause, it is alleged on behalf of the defendants, that it must be considered as a condition annexed or direction imposed on the devisee not to sell or dispose of the land in which the testator had previously given him a fee-simple estate, and being repugnant thereto is therefore void, and of no effect whatever. If it were so, that the testator had previously given a'fee-simple estate in his land to his son, and the clause under consideration could be fairly jConstrued as a condition or direction imposed on the devisee not to alien the same, the conclusion would doubtless be correct. 1 Inst. 222 b, 223 a. But it is proper to observe that the fee-simple contended for here, is neither given in express
Then as to the third ground, upon which it has been argued that Cornelius,.the son, took a fee-simple estate in the land devised to him, which is, that by the testator he is directed to pay certain sums of money to his sisters. Now no doubt it has long been established that a direction imposed on a devisee to pay a gross sum or sums of money enlarges the devise to an estate in fee-simple where there are no words of limitation. See 2 Pow. on Dev. 379, and the cases there cited. But wherever there is an express limitation of the interest devised, such direction of the testator is never allowed to have any such effect. For instance, if the devise be limited to the devisee for life only, with a condition annexed or direction imposed, that he shall pay a gross sum of money to one named in the will, no implication Can be made to enlarge the devise to an estate in fee contrary to the express limitation of it, which is for the life of the devisee only. Burdett v. Wright, (2 Barn. & Ald. 710). In Doe v. Fyldes, (Cowp. 841), Loi’d Mansfield declares that there never was an instance where an express estate for life, or an express estate tail is givén 'in terms, of its having been enlarged to a fee-simple estate by implication, on account of a condition or direction imposed on the devisee to pay a gross sum of money; and accordingly it was held by the Court of King’s Bench, in the case of Slater v. Slater, (5 Term Rep. 335), that charging the devisee, to whom an estate-tail was expressly given, did not and could not enlarge the gift to a fee-simple estate. See also 2 Pow. on Dev. 426.
A fourth ground of defence taken by the counsel of the defendants in the argument was, that the judgment under which the land was sold by the sheriff, by virtue of which sale the defendants claim, was had upon • a bond given by Cornelius, the devisee of the land, to the husband of Lydia, one of the legatees named in the will, who was a feme sole at the time of making it, as also at the death of the testator, but was married afterwards, to secure the payment of her legacy, and that by the terms of the will the legacy was charged on the land so sold. This ground of defence would seem to militate against the third ground of defence just noticed; because, if it be that the testator has made the land alone liable for the payment of the legacy, the devisee, according to the authorities, on this point, could not be held personally bound for the payment of it, because the testator having made the land liable for it, into whatsoever hands the land might happen to fall, could not have intended that the devisee should be personally answerable for it also; and consequently no ground existed for enlarging the estate of the devisee beyond what was expressly given. See 2 Pow. on Dev. 382, et seq., and the cases there cited.
But it appears to me that the testator, in this case, did not intend to charge the legacy on the land, for there is no clause or words to be found in the will to that effect. He certainly has pot done so in terms; nor has he used any words from which an intention to do so can be fairly inferred. He has, after devising the land to his son, by a subsequent and distinct clause simply bequeathed the legacy to his daughter, to be paid to her by his son, without more. If he had said, “ to be paid by his son out of the land devised to him,” or anything of the sort, there would have been some ground for claiming that the legacy was a charge upon the land. In the absence, however, of everything of the kind, the legacy must be considered as a charge on the devisee in respect of the land devised to him, and not a charge upon the land itself. But if it had been made a charge upon the land by the* devisor, that charge would have been completely removed by the husband of Lydia’s taking a bond from the devisee of the land, securing the payment of the legacy to himself for his own use. Neither he nor she, or both of them together, could, after that, have claimed the legacy by force of the will simply, for all claim to it by Lydia, the devisee named therein, would have been, and ■ was in fact and in law thereby discharged, and for ever thereafter ceased to exist. The husband alone, or his representatives, whether his wife survived him or not, became entitled to receive under the bond taken by him, and not under the will, all that was thereafter to be paid on account of the legacy. The husband, by taking thé bond of the devisee of the land, extinguished the legacy coming to his wife under the will; it thereby became the personal debt of the devisee, payable to the husband alone. The utmost, therefore, that the purchaser at sheriff’s sale could get was a right to hold the possession and receive the- profits of the land during the life of Cornelius, the debtor in the bond, when the eldest son of the latter, who is one of the plaintiffs here, became entitled to it as tenant in tail, according to the form of the gift contained in the will.
Judgment reversed, and a venire de novo awarded.
Reference
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- Dewitt against Eldred
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