Boal v. Metropolitan Museum of Art of City of New York

• Decision Date: 17 March 1924
• Docket Number: 51.
• Citation: 298 F. 894
• Parties: BOAL et al. v. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

298 F. 894

BOAL et al. v. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK et al.

No. 51.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

March 17, 1924

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

William E. Carnochan and Herbert Parsons, both of New York City (Theodore C. Richards, of New York City, Warren H. Atwood, of Ayer, Mass., and Lyman K. Clark, of Boston, Mass., of counsel), for appellants.

De Forest Bros., of New York City (Robert Thorne, of New York City, of counsel), for appellee Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dorman & Dana, of New York City (William R. Tillinghast, of Providence, R.I., William R. Dorman, of New York City, James C.

Collins of Providence, R.I., and Zachariah Chafee, Jr., of Cambridge, Mass., of counsel), for appellee Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co.

Before ROGERS, MANTON, and MAYER, Circuit Judges.

ROGERS Circuit Judge.

This case involves the last will and testament of Theodore M. Davis, who at the time of his death on February 23, 1915, had his domicile at Newport, in the state of Rhode Island. His will was dated August 14, 1911, and a codicil thereto was dated October 4, 1911, and both were admitted to probate in the Newport probate court. Letters testamentary were issued to Thomas L. Manson, one of the two executors named in the will; the other person named, Herbert Parsons, having declined to qualify. Mr. Manson died in May, 1918, without having fully administered the estate, and on May 27, 1918, the defendant Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company was appointed administrator with the will annexed. Mr. Davis was survived by his widow, Annie B. Davis, and by the plaintiff Kate Atwood, a half-sister, and Gertrude Galloway, his sister, who were his only heirs and next of kin. Thereafter both Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Galloway died. The plaintiff Theodore Davis Boal is the executor of the will of Mrs. Davis, and the plaintiff Kate Atwood is the administratrix of the estate of Mrs. Galloway.

The seventh paragraph of the will of Mr. Davis, and the one involved herein, is as follows:

'Seventh. Subject to the life estate therein of Mrs. Andrews, and with proviso hereinafter made, I give and bequeath to 'the Metropolitan Museum of Art' of the city of New York, all the pictures and frames not herein otherwise disposed of, all works of art in bronze, silver, metal, marble, ivory or other materials, pottery, antique rugs, velvets, silks, tapestries, antique glass, and the Egyptian collection of any and all kinds which may belong to my estate. I request the Museum when it shall come into possession of the same, to exhibit in cases by themselves the Egyptian collection and all other collections which in the opinion of the trustees are suitable for cases. I also request that the pictures be associated if hung in one room, but if hung according to their schools they should be grouped; and I request that my entire collection herein given shall be designated as the 'Theodore M. Davis Collection.'

'The foregoing bequest to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is subject, however, to the condition and I do hereby will, provide, and declare, that if the principal of my trust estate held by the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company of Providence in said state of Rhode Island under trusts created by me, shall not be sufficient to make each part into which such principal is to be divided upon the decease of the survivor of my said wife and the said Emma B. Andrews equal at least to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) then I give and bequeath to said Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company for the purposes of sale, and at either public or private sale, sufficient of said pictures and articles to realize a net amount equal to the deficiency in said trust estate,-- that is to say, sufficient to increase the value of the principal of my said trust estate so that each part thereof shall equal at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)--the Metropolitan Museum of Art, however, to have the right to pay any such deficiency and thereby avoid the sale of any of said pictures and articles; and should the time for delivery of said pictures and articles to the Metropolitan Museum of Art arrive before the time for the distribution of said trust estate by said trust company, the said Metropolitan Museum of Art, before taking possession of said pictures and articles, shall enter into an agreement with said trust company to make good any deficiency aforesaid or turn back to said trust company sufficient articles and pictures for sale as aforesaid.' The ninth paragraph of the will, which is the residuary clause, is as follows:

'Ninth. I give, devise and bequeath all the remainder of the property, real and personal, of which I die possessed or over which I have any power of disposition, including any of the foregoing gifts which shall fail for any reason, but excepting the remainder in my real estate in said Newport after the decease of my said wife and the said Emma B. Andrews, to my said executors, or any duly appointed administrator of my estate, in trust nevertheless, to convert the whole of said property into cash as soon as reasonably possible, with power for this purpose to sell the same or any part or parts thereof at either private or public sale, and the net proceeds of such sale or sales to pay over to the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company to be held, managed and disposed of as a part of the principal of the estate and property held by it in trust for my life and the lives of others in the same manner as though the proceeds of such sales had been deposited by me as a part of said trust estate and property; and the receipt of said trust company shall be a full discharge to my said executors or administrators relieving them from all further liability or accountability in respect thereof. And I devise to the said Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company after the deaths of my said wife and the said Emma B. Andrews the estate in said Newport hereinbefore given to them for their lives, but in trust nevertheless for said trust company to convert said estates into cash as soon as reasonably possible after it becomes entitled to the possession of said estate, hereby empowering said trust company in the discretion of its officers or committee having the charge of trust estates with the approval in writing of the said Thomas L. Manson and Herbert Parsons or the survivor of them so long as both or either of them is living, to sell said estates from time to time at either private or public sale, and to add the net proceeds of any such sale or sales to the principal of the trust estate and property then held by it under the trusts theretofore created by me, and to divide and distribute said net proceeds to the same persons and in the same proportions as they are entitled to the principal of my said trust estate under the terms of said trusts; and no purchaser from my said executors or administrators, or from said trust company, shall be under any obligation to inquire into the propriety or regularity of any such sale or sales or to see to the application of the purchase moneys, but all transfers and conveyances from my said executors and administrators, and from said trust company, shall give to the purchaser as good, valid and sufficient titles to said properties, real and personal, as I die possessed of, without other act by the purchasers than the payment of the purchase moneys.'

The claim of the plaintiffs is that the seventh clause is void, and that they, admittedly entitled to whatever portion of the testator's estate he did not validly dispose of by his will, are entitled to the Egyptian collection and other works of art, collectively referred to as the art collection, which the testator undertook, unsuccessfully, to dispose of in the seventh clause.

The bill alleges that the art collection is, at the time the suit is brought, within the Southern district of New York and is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The interest of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and that of Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company, the defendants herein, rests upon the seventh and ninth clauses above set forth. The amended bill of complaint asked: That the claim of the complainants to the art collection be enforced, and that the incumbrances, liens, and clouds upon the title to the collection asserted by the defendants be removed. That the court decree that the bequest of the art collection sought to be made by the seventh paragraph of the will fails, and that the collection pursuant to the ninth paragraph belongs to the residuary estate, and as such belongs one-fourth to the complainant Kate Atwood individually, and one-fourth to her as administratrix of the estate of Gertrude Galloway, deceased, and one-half to the complainant Theodore Davis Boal as executor of the will of Annie B. Davis, deceased. That the Metropolitan Museum of Art be directed by the decree to transfer and deliver the art collection to the complainants upon receiving their receipt therefor.

The bill also asked that the court enjoin the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pending a determination of the proceedings, from transferring the art collection or any part thereof from the state of New York or from its possession, other than to the complainants. The court below entered a decree dismissing the bill upon the merits.

Before proceeding further it should be stated that on August 14 1911, the date when Mr. Davis executed his will, but before its execution, he signed a trust deed dated that day. By this trust deed, as counsel for the plaintiffs have pointed out, Mr. Davis provided for certain trusts of which he thereby appointed the defendant the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company trustee. Two days later, on August 16, 1911, he acknowledged the execution of this trust deed and delivered it to the trust...