Beardsley v. Selectmen of Bridgeport

• Citation: 53 Conn. 489,3 A. 557
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Decision Date: 13 February 1886
• Parties: BEARDSLEY, Ex'r v. SELECTMEN OF BRIDGEPORT and others.

3 A. 557

53 Conn. 489

BEARDSLEY, Ex'r

v. SELECTMEN OF BRIDGEPORT and others.

SUPREME COURT OF CONNECTICUT.

Filed February 13, 1886.

Appeal from superior court, Fairfax county.

Richard C. Ambler, for executor.

J. A. Joyce, for selectmen.

J. J. Rose, for Bridgeport Hospital.

H. S. Sanford, for Orphans' Asylum.

J. C. Chamberlin, for widow.

L. Warner, for heirs at law.

PARDEE, J. Complaint asking for advice as to the construction of a will. Reserved. By his will as originally made Aaron Summers gave to his wife the use of his entire estate during life or widowhood; by the codicil he gave $1,000 to the Bridgeport Protestant Orphan Asylum, and $1,000 to the Bridgeport Hospital. The claim of the widow is that she is to have the use for life of the entire estate, and that neither of these legacies is payable until after her death. But the office of this codicil is to change what had been written before. It is the latest and controlling expression of the testator's wish. The bequests thereby made are absolute in terms; as perfectly so as is the devise of the life-use to the wife in the will. The expressions are all free from ambiguity. All express a legal interest in legal language, and in them the rules of law require us to find the precise extent of the change intended by the testator. These legacies are therefore payable at the usual time.

Subject to the use for life by his wife, and to diminution by certain legacies, the testator disposes of his estate as follows, viz.:

"To be used discretionary by the acting selectmen of said Bridgeport for the special benefit of the worthy, deserving, poor, white, American, Protestant, Democratic widows and orphans residing in the town of Bridgeport, Conn., until all is expended."

It is the claim of the heirs at law that this bequest is void for uncertainty as to the persons composing the class to be benefited, and they have pressed upon our attention the doubts and difficulties which will beset the trustees whenever they shall attempt to select the beneficiaries. But, notwithstanding the accumulation of adjectives, the bequest is within our statute of charitable uses, as interpreted by this court; for it is to be borne in mind that the question before us is not, are there not many persons concerning whom there must be doubts whether they can meet some of the requirements of the testator? but it is, are there not many concerning whom no doubt can exist that they are able to meet them all? Each one of the adjectives is of common use, and has as definite and precise a meaning as have most words in the language. Of course, there are all grades of character and of pecuniary condition,—all shades of color. Of course, men may profess the Protestant faith, and worship after its forms; many advocate the principles of the Democratic party, and vote for its candidates,—and yet at heart accept neither. But, notwithstanding all this, men are constantly deciding and acting in matters which concern both property and person upon the belief that they will not be misunderstood when they use adjectives like these under consideration. The business of the world will not, cannot, wait until every word shall become mathematically precise.

The office of selectmen is continuous by law. The persons from time to time constituting the board of selectmen of the town of Bridgeport are joint trustees in perpetual succession, clothed with power and placed under obligation to select beneficiaries from the classes specified by the testator, and apply either the interest or the principal of the fund to the relief of their necessities at discretion.

The beneficiaries must be "poor." This word, as used by the testator, includes those who have exhausted all means of support, and are in a condition to...