Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1876

Urich v. Merkel

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · Decided March 13, 1876 · Agnew, Gordon, Mercur, Paxson, Sharswood, Woodward

81 Pa. 332; 1876 Pa. LEXIS 155

Cases that cite this one

10 later published cases cite this decision.

Smith v. Piper (Pa. 1911)
Stineman v. Stineman (Pa. 1955)
Byrne's Estate (Pa. 1935)
Ritchie v. Campbell Et Ux. (Pa. Super. Ct. 1934)
Zerger's Estate (Dauphin County Orphans' Court 1929)
Pfeifle v. Bethlehem Public Library, Inc. (Northampton County Court of Common Pleas 1928)
Everts v. Kepler (Centre County Court of Common Pleas 1927)
Stanton v. Guest (Pa. 1926)
Pattin v. Scott (Pa. 1921)
Martin v. Heckman (Pa. Super. Ct. 1904)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Judgment was entered in the Supreme Court,

Per Curiam.

_ — The principal item in this will which devises to John Staudt a farm in Bern township, certainly would give to him a fee simple. But the intention of a testator when discovered by an examination of all parts of his will must govern. Therefore, when we come to the item defining the power of his children over the estates given to them, we discover plainly that he intended to confer a life estate only and not merely to restrict their power *336over a precedently-conferred fee simple. The power to devise given in the last item is certainly consistent with the gift of a life estate ; indeed it would be unnecessary had the testator intended John to have a fee simple. We see no error in the conclusion of 4 the learned judge.

Judgment affirmed.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.