Allen v. Trustees of Nasson Inst.
Decision Date | 27 September 1910 |
Citation | 77 A. 638,107 Me. 120 |
Parties | ALLEN et al. v. TRUSTEES OF NASSON INSTITUTE. |
Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Report from Supreme Judicial Court, York County.
Bill by Harmon G. Allen and others against the trustees of Nasson Institute. On report. Decree directed.
Argued before EMERY, C. J., and SAVAGE, PEABODY, SPEAR, CORNISH, and KING, JJ.
Foster & Foster and George A. Goodwin, for plaintiffs.
Howard Frost, for defendant.
This is a bill in equity brought to obtain a judicial construction of the residuary clause of the will of George Nasson, late of Sanford, who died on September 17, 1882. This clause is as follows:
The will was dated March 24, 1881, was admitted to probate November 7, 1882, and other trustees have succeeded to those named in the will. Both the sisters Julia and Joanna have long since deceased, and the amount of the trust fund is now about $32,000, $12,000 of which consists of real estate and $20,000 of personal property. The paragraph in question is neither indefinite nor ambiguous. The testator's intention could hardly have been expressed with greater precision or clearness. The purpose of this bill, therefore, is not so much to obtain judicial construction of a doubtful bequest as to obtain the authority of the court to use the fund in assisting the town of Sanford to maintain a high school in that part of the town known as Springvale.
It is apparent that the testator had no such intention when he made his will. He was himself a resident of Springvale, and presumably acquainted with the school system of the town and its needs. That system is supported by taxation, and evidently he did not desire to make donations to the town schools which would afford relief to the taxpayers of the town, but would not necessarily tend to the improvement of the schools themselves. His sole purpose was to establish a different type of institution from any existing in the town or perhaps in the state, "an institute for the education of young ladies to be known as the Nasson Institute, which shall be carried on to promote the moral, intellectual and physical instruction and education of young women." The institution was to be of a higher type than a high school, with a wider patronage, designed for pupils of maturer age, confined to the female sex, and preferably with only female teachers employed. It was to bear his name. It was in his mind to become in time what many similar institutions in other states have become—a prosperous young ladies seminary.
This being the testator's intention, clearly and unequivocally expressed, we fail to see on what ground this court can justify itself in diverting the trust property to a purpose so radically different as the assistance of a town high school. It is the province of the court to construe a will not to construct one.
We are urged, however, to do this first on the ground that, when the will was made, coeducation was an experiment, while now it is an established fact, and it is argued that, had the testator realized this, he would not have even advised that an institution be established for the exclusive education of young ladies. The contention is unsupported by the facts. In 1881, when the will was made, all the academies and three of the colleges in the state were open to women and had been for many years. No educational doors then closed to women have been opened since. Conditions have not changed since the will was made, and, even if they had, such change, while it might tend to prove the unwisdom of the bequest in the light of subsequent...
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