Bowen v. Chase

• Decision Date: 01 October 1876
• Citation: 24 L.Ed. 184,94 U.S. 812
• Parties: BOWEN v. CHASE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

94 U.S. 812

24 L.Ed. 184

BOWEN v. CHASE.

October Term, 1876

[Statement of case from pages 812-813 intentionally omitted] APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

The case is stated in the opinion of the court.

Argued by Mr. M. E. Sawyer and Mr. L. S. Chatfield for the appellant, and by Mr. James C. Carter for the appellees.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court.

The principal objects of the bill in this case, which was filed in the court below by the appellees, Nelson Chase, Eliza Jumel Pery, and Paul R. G. Pery, her husband, and William I. Chase, were to establish their title to certain lands in the city of New York, known as the Stephen Jumel property, and to enjoin George W. Bowen, the appellant, from prosecuting certain actions of ejectment, one brought by him to recover the property above named, and the others to recover certain lands in Saratoga, belonging to the late Madame Jumel, widow of Stephen Jumel, and claimed by the appellees by way of satisfaction for certain charges against her estate, as well as by conveyance from her supposed heirs, children of a deceased sister.

Stephen Jumel was the owner of a lot at the corner of Broadway and Liberty Streets, and of several tracts of land on Harlem Heights, in the upper part of New York City. In 1827 and 1828, by certain mesne conveyances, the greater portion of this property was conveyed to one Michael Werckmeister upon the following trusts, namely:——

'In trust that the said party of the second part (Werckmeister) and his heirs collect and receive the rents, issues, and profits of the said above-described and hereby-conveyed premises, and every part and parcel thereof, and pay over the same unto Eliza Brown Jumel (the wife of Stephen Jumel, late of the city of New York, now of Paris, in France) or, at her election, suffer or permit her to use, occupy, and possess the said premises, and to have, take, collect, receive, and enjoy the rents and profits thereof, to and for her own separate use and benefit, and to and for such other uses and purposes as the said Eliza Brown Jumel shall please and think fit, at her own free will and pleasure, and not subject to the control or interference of her present or any future husband, and the receipt and receipts of her, the said Eliza Brown Jumel, shall at all time be good and sufficient discharges for such payments, and for such rents and profits to him, the said party of the second part, his heirs, executors, and administrators, and to the person or persons who are or shall be liable to pay the same; and upon this further trust, that the said party of the second part or his heirs lease, demise, let, convey, assure, and dispose of all and singular the said above-described premises, with their and every of their appurtenances, to such person or persons, for such term or terms, on such rent or rents, for such price or prices, at such time or times, to such uses, intents, or purposes, and in such manner and form, as she, the said Eliza Brown Jumel, notwithstanding her present or any future coverture, as if she were a feme sole, shall, by any instrument in writing, executed in the presence of any two credible witnesses, order, direct, limit, or appoint; and in case of an absolute sale of said premises, or of any part thereof, to pay over the purchase-money to the said Eliza Brown Jumel, or invest the same as she shall order and direct; and upon this further trust, upon the decease of the said Eliza Brown Jumel, to convey the said above-described premises, or such parts thereof as shall not have been previously conveyed by the said party of the second part, or his heirs, and with respect to which no direction or appointment shall be made by the said Eliza Brown Jumel in her lifetime, to the heirs of said Eliza Brown Jumel in fee-simple; and pay over to the heirs of the said Eliza Brown Jumel such moneys as shall remain in the hands or under the control of the said party of the second part or his heirs, arising from collections of the rents and profits, or of the proceeds of the sales of the above-described premises, or any part thereof.'

On the twenty-first day of November, 1828, the said Eliza Brown Jumel, by a deed duly executed as required by the trust, made an appointment of all the lands conveyed in trust, in the following terms, to wit:——

'Now I, the said Eliza Brown Jumel, do hereby direct, order, limit, and appoint, that, immediately after my demise, the said Michael Werckmeister, or his heirs, convey all and singular the said above-described premises to such person or persons, and to such uses and purposes, as I, the said Eliza Brown Jumel, shall by my last will and testament, under my hand, and executed in the presence of two or more witnesses, designate and appoint; and for want thereof, then that he convey the same to my husband, Stephen Jumel, in case he be living, for and during his natural life, subject to an annuity, to be charged thereon during his said natural life, of six hundred dollars, payable to Mary Jumel Bownes, and after the death of my said husband, or in case he shall not survive me, then, immediately after my own death, to her, the said Mary Jumel Bownes, and her heirs in fee.'

It is on this trust and appointment that the appellees rely as the foundation of their title to what is generally known as the Stephen Jumel estate. Mary Jumel Bownes, the appointee of the residuary estate, was the adopted daughter or proteg ee of Stephen Jumel and Madame Jumel his wife, and the reputed niece of the latter. In 1832, Mary Jumel Bownes became the wife of Nelson Chase, and had by him two children, Eliza Jumel Pery and William I. Chase, appellees in this case. She died in 1843, leaving these children her sole heirs-at-law, in virtue of which they claim title to the estate.

The appellant claims to be an illegitimate son of Madame Jumel, born in 1794, before her marriage with Stephen Jumel; and by virtue of that relationship, and of a statute of New York, passed in 1855, enabling illgitimate children to inherit from their mother, he claims to be her sole heir-at-law. He resists, on various grounds, the claim of Mrs. Chase, and her heirs under the appointment. First, he contends that Madame Jumel took a legal estate in fee-simple by virtue of the trust-deed. But if not, then he contends, secondly, that by certain conveyances and appointe nts made by Madame Jumel, under the powers contained in the trust-deed, the appointment in favor of Mrs. Chase was displaced, and superseded by other estates which inured to Madame Jumel.

The conveyances and appointments referred to under the second head are the following:——

First, A conveyance to Alexander Hamilton by Werckmeister, the trustee, at the request and by the appointment of Madame Jumel, dated the tenth day of January, 1834, of ninety-four acres of land at Harlem Heights, for the expressed consideration of $15,000. On the twenty-first day of October, in the same year, this property was reconveyed by Hamilton to the trustee, upon the same trusts declared in the original deed of trust.

Secondly, A conveyance by the trustee, at the instance and appointment of Madame Jumel, made on the twentieth day of August, 1842, to one Francis Phillippon, of a large portion of the estate, for the expressed consideration of $100,000; and a reconveyance of the same property, on the same day, by Phillippon to Madame Jumel in fee, for the expressed condition of one dollar.

Besides these conveyances, in 1850, a lot of thirty-nine acres, being part of the property on Harlem Heights, was sold and conveyed to Ambrose W. Kingsland; and, in 1853, another lot of three acres, to Isaac P. Martin: which conveyances are admitted to have been made to actual purchasers for valuable consideration.

The effect of these various deeds and conveyances is now to be considered. And, first, that of the trust-deeds executed to Werckmeister in 1827 and 1828. There were two of these deeds, but the trusts in both were precisely the same.

The limitations of this trust are very clear and plain, being of a life-estate to the separate use of Eliza Brown Jumel (known as Madame Jumel), with a general power of appointment during her lifetime; and, on failure to make such appointment, to her heirs in fee-simple.

The counsel for the appellant contends that this trust amounted to a use of the lands, and that, under the old statute of uses and trusts, it operated to vest the legal estate in fee in Madame Jumel. But we think that the authorities are very clear, that where a trust is thus created for the benefit of a married woman, for the purpose of giving her the separate use and control of lands free from the control of her husband, it will be sustained; since to merge the trust in the legal estate, or, to speak more properly, to convert it into a legal estate, would have the effect of placing the property in the husband's control by virtue of his marital rights, and would thus defeat the very purpose of the trust. Harton v. Harton, 7 T. R. 653; Cornish on Uses, 59, sect. 6; Rife v. George, 59 Penn. 393.

The legal effect of the appointment made by Madame Jumel, Nov. 21, 1828, we do not regard as any more doubtful than that of the trust. It was manifestly this, that, subject to Madame Jumel's right of disposing of the lands by will (which right she reserved), and after the termination of her separate interest for life, the equitable estate in the lands was limited to her husband for life, with remainder to Mary Jumel Bownes in fee-simple. This is so obvious as to require no elaboration of argument or discussion. The interests limited to Stephen Jumel for life, and to Mary Jumel Bownes in fee, were immediate vested interests, though to take effect in possession at a subsequent period; namely, at the death of Madame Jumel, and subject to be devested by her reserved power of disposing of the lands by will. The circumstance that the...