Beckley v. Riegert
Beckley v. Riegert
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The question to be determined is whether the plaintiff took an estate tail, converted to a fee simple by virtue of the Act of April 27, 1855, P. L. 368 or a life estate only, under the following provision of his father’s will: “ T give and devise unto my son Adam my messuage, tenement or tract of land—during the natural life of my son Adam. If my son Adam shall die without lawful issue, then the above devised messuage or tract of land shall fall back to my two sons, Franklin and George, but if my son Adam having lawful issue at the time of his death, then I give and devise the above messuage or tract of land to him and his heirs forever.” In terms the testator gave a life estate to his son Adam Avith remainder to Adam’s issue, if he had issue at the time of his death, and in default thereof to the testator’s sons, Franklin and George. The expressions “ shall die without lawful issue ” and “ having lawful issue at the time of his death ” must be considered together as
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- Will—Lije estate—Estate tail—Lying without issue. In a will “issue” prima facie means “heirs of the body” and will be eonstrued as a word of limitation, and “dying without issue” standing alone means an indefinite failure of issue. But this construction will always yield to an apparent intent on the face of the will that the words were to have a more restricted meaning and to be applied to descendants of a particular class or at a particular time and not to all the descendants of every generation. Dying without issue “living at the time of his decease” means a definite failure of issue. A limitation over to take effect on the failure of issue within a given time will not give rise to an estate tail by implication in the prior taker. Testator gave and devised a tract of land to his son A during the natural life of A. He then directed as follows: “If my son A shall die without lawful issue, then the above devised messuage or tract of land shall fall back to my two sons, E and G, but if my son A having lawful issue at the time of his death, then I give and devise the above messuage or tract of land to him and his heirs forever.” Held, that the limitation over was after a definite failure of issue, and that A took merely a life estate in the land devised to him.