Brendel v. Zion Church of the City of Baltimore

• Decision Date: 11 June 1889
• Citation: 17 A. 936,71 Md. 83
• Parties: BRENDEL ET AL. v. ZION CHURCH OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

17 A. 936

71 Md. 83

BRENDEL ET AL. v. ZION CHURCH OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 11, 1889

Appeal from circuit court of Baltimore city; J. UPSHUR DENNIS Judge.

This was a bill filed by John G. Brendel and others against the Zion Church of the City of Baltimore and others, to remove a cloud from their title to certain land in the city of Baltimore. There was a decree dismissing the bill, from which complainants appeal.

Argued before ALVEY, C.J., and MILLER, ROBINSON, BRYAN, and MCSHERRY, JJ.

Thomas Hughes, for appellants.

W B. Trundle, for appellee.

ROBINSON J.

This is a plain case. The appellants, it is clear, have no interest legal or equitable, in the lot of ground in controversy. This lot was bought by Frederick Brendel in 1804, for the German Lutheran Church of Baltimore City, to be used as a burial-ground. The legal title was taken in the name of Brendel, and he thereupon leased the lot to the trustees of said church for a term of 99 years, renewable forever, upon the payment of an annual rent of six cents, if demanded. Upon the execution of this lease the trustees entered into possession of the lot, and used it as a burial-ground, till 1830, a period of more than 20 years. The German Lutheran Church was then duly incorporated under the name of the "Zion Church of the City of Baltimore," and the leasehold interest was conveyed to the trustees of the newly-incorporated church, by whom it was held till 1874 when, being no longer used for burial purposes, it was sold under the act of 1868, c. 211, § 92, art. 16, Code. The purchasers under this sale acquired the entire leasehold interest of the lessees, and also the interest of the lot-holders, whether such lot-holders, says the act, "be residents or non-residents, adults or infants." So much, then, for the leasehold estate conveyed to and held by the trustees of Zion Church. There was, as we have seen, an outstanding reversion in fee in the heirs and devisees of Brendel, the original lessor. Now, in 1874, a bill was filed by Jonathan Klopp and wife, for the sale of this reversionary interest, on the ground that it was not susceptible of partition among the parties in interest without loss and injury. To this suit the appellants were parties, and in their answer objected to the sale of the lot,-- First, on the ground that it was susceptible of partition; and, secondly, because, as they alleged, the lease to the trustees of Zion Church was a void lease, and...