Cross v. Dye

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania October 19, 1917

Cross v. Dye, 259 Pa. 207 (Pa. 1917)

102 A. 816; 1917 Pa. LEXIS 540

Brown, Frazer, Mestrezat, Stewart, Waleino

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

This judgment is affirmed on the following from the charge of the court in directing a verdict for the defendant: “In the opinion of the court the will in question created 'in Marietta R. Cross, daughter of Harriet R. Cross, the testatrix, an estate tail which estate, under the Act of Assembly in this State passed in 1855, *209became a fee simple estate in Marietta E. Cross, and as we view it by her deeds there finally became vested in A. J. Dye, the defendant in this case, a fee simple to the property in question.”

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Status: Published
Syllabus: Wills and devises — Beal estate — Estates tail — Act of April 27, 1855, P. L. 868 — Construction—Intention. A testatrix having given her husband an interest for life in certain real estate, gave the remainder to “my daughter, Marietta R. Cross, and my son, Walter L. Cross, and the survivors of them and their heirs in fee, but should they both die without lawful issue, then the same shall go to my sons, Jesse and Wilbur, and their heirs.” Walter L. Cross died unmarried and without issue prior to testatrix, but Marietta R. Cross survived the testatrix and the life tenant and aliened the property. In an action by Jesse and Wilbur against the grantee of Marietta R. Cross, brought after the death of Marietta, the court held that Marietta had received an estate-tail which became a fee simple estate under the Act of April 27, 1855, P. L. 368, and directed a verdict for defendant. Held, no error.