Creighton v. Pringle
| Decision Date | 16 October 1871 |
| Citation | 3 S.C. 77 |
| Parties | CREIGHTON v. PRINGLE. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
A deed of marriage settlement, after declaring the uses, trusts and limitations of the settlement, contained a clause empowering the trustees to sell, & c., the proceeds to be held subject to the same uses, & c., " as are hereinafter set forth," & c. Held that the term " hereinafter" must be read hereinbefore.
A mistake, apparent on the face of the deed, may be corrected without the aid of extrinsic evidence.
A power contained in a deed of marriage settlement, authorizing the trustees to sell or exchange, and re-invest, on the written request of baron and feme , or the survivor, and hold the proceeds, & c., " to the same uses, trusts, intents and purposes, and subject to the same declarations and limitations," as are set forth in the deed, is not exhausted by a sale of the original corpus , but attaches upon the proceeds, and the property purchased therewith.
Where a power authorizing the sale of trust property, or the investment of trust funds requires the observance of certain formalities, as, for instance, the written request of a cestui que trust , such formality must be strictly observed.
Bonds given in 1858 or 1859, and well secured by mortgages of real estate, and a bond given in 1853, and secured by a mortgage of slaves, were collected in Confederate currency by a trustee in April or May, 1863, and the proceeds invested in Confederate bonds: Held that the trustee, if he had a discretion to collect and re-invest, which was denied, had committed a breach of trust in receiving payment in a depreciated currency, and investing in Confederate bonds.
A trustee, holding bonds payable to himself, has the legal estate, and, in the absence of fraud or collusion, may discharge the obligors by accepting payment in a depreciated currency; though as between the trustee and cestui que trust , such acceptance amounts to a breach of trust.
Where a trustee committed a breach of trust by receiving Confederate money and investing it in Confederate bonds, the receipt of interest in Confederate money by a cestui que trust , who was suijuris , did not amount to such acquiescence as precluded her from complaining of the breach of trust.
By deed of marriage settlement the property, real and personal, of feme , was conveyed to trustees, to the joint use of baron and feme during their joint lives then to the use of the survivor for life, remainder to the issue of feme , with limitations to the use of the trustees to preserve contingent remainders, and with power to the trustees, on the written request of baron and feme , or the survivor, te sell or exchange, and reinvest, and hold the proceeds, & c., subject to the same uses, trusts, limitations and declarations Held that the legal estate remained in the trustees notwithstanding the statute of uses, it being necessary for them to retain it in order to carry out the purposes of the settlement.
Where the trust is to preserve contingent remainders, or where the trustee has duties to perform in the execution of the trust which make it necessary for him to have the legal estate, the use will not be executed.
Trusts of personal property are not within the Statute of Uses.
BEFORE JOHNSON, CH., AT CHARLESTON, NOVEMBER, 1867.
The case is fully stated in the decree of his Honor, the Circuit Chancellor, which is as follows:
JOHNSON Ch.
In the year 1821, Ann McPherson and James Creighton were married, and a short time before their marriage they executed a deed of marriage settlement, by which they conveyed all the property of the former, which consisted of lands and negro slaves, to James McPherson, James E. McPherson and James R. Pringle, " and to their heirs and assigns," for them " and the survivors of them, and the heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns of such survivor," to hold, after the solemnization of the marriage, subject to the following trusts, to wit: For the use of Creighton and wife during their joint lives, and for the use of thesurvivor for life; and after his or her death, for the use of the child or children of the wife, who might be living at the death of the survivor, the child or children of any deceased child to represent the deceased parent.
After specifying the parties for whose benefit the property was to be held, the following clause occurs in the deed, to wit: " And it is further stipulated and agreed upon by and between all the parties to these presents, and the true intent and meaning hereof is, that in case the said James Creighton and Ann McPherson shall, at any time hereafter, during the coverture, or the survivor of them at any time after discoverture shall think fit, and beneficial to their interest or the interest of the survivor of them, the said James Creighton and Ann McPherson, to have the aforesaid real and personal property, or any part thereof so granted, released and transferred to them, the said James McPherson, James E. McPherson, and James R. Pringle, sold and disposed of, or exchanged for other property, real or personal, and the sale moneys invested in public or private stock, or in any bank stock or fund, or laid out at interest on private security, or in the purchase of any other estate, real or personal, that then the said James McPherson, James E. McPherson, and James R. Pringle, or the survivor or survivors of them, and the heirs, executors, and administrators of such survivor, on being thereunto requested in writing by them, the said James Creighton and Ann McPherson, jointly, if in their joint life time, or by the survivor of them, the said James Creighton and Ann McPherson, if after the death of either of them, shall absolutely sell, dispose of, convert or exchange the same or any part thereof, as the case may be; and from and immediately on such sale, exchange or substitution or investment, have and hold the moneys arising or to arise from such sale, exchange or substitution, and the property, real and personal, stocks, certificates, choses in action, or other evidences of debt, acquired by means thereof, to and for and upon the same uses, trusts, intents and purposes, and subject to the same declarations and limitations as are hereinafter set forth, limited and declared of and concerning the hereinbefore granted, released and assigned premises, and to and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever."
In the subsequent portion of the deed, there are no " uses, trusts, intents, purposes, or declarations and limitations" set forth.
The three trustees named in the deed, after the marriage, took possession of the property, and continued to manage it, in accordance with the terms of the conveyance, until the year 1840, when James R. Pringle, who survived the other two, died, leaving the defendant, James R. Pringle, and three other children surviving him.
In 1837, James Creighton died, leaving surviving him his widow, Ann Creighton, and four children, to wit: Susan, who has since intermarried with John S. Mitchell; Ann, who has since intermarried with J. Fraser Matthewes; John McP. Creighton and James M. Creighton, who died in 1862, leaving one child, Martha Ann, who is still an infant, surviving him. All of whom, as remaindermen, are made parties, as complainants, in the Bill.
The trust property was managed exclusively by Mrs. Creighton, from 1840 until the early part of 1853, when, upon her application to the Court of Equity, by petition, George M. Coffin and the defendant, James R. Pringle, were, by the order of the Court, appointed and substituted as trustees, in lieu and stead of the original trustees, and, by the terms of the order, were invested with the same power and charged with the same trusts as those mentioned in the deed.
On the first day of February, 1853, Mrs. Creighton requested George M. Coffin and James R. Pringle, as trustees, in writing, to sell the land conveyed in the deed of marriage settlement to Loftus C. Clifford for the sum of $28,025, and to take his bond, conditioned for the payment of the same, in one, two, three, four, and five years from that date, bearing interest from date, and payable annually, and to secure the same by a mortgage of the land; and also to sell all the negro slaves belonging to the trust estate, to Loftus C. Clifford, for the sum of $30,210, and to take his bond, conditioned for the payment of the same, on the same time and terms they were directed to take the other bond, and to secure the same by a mortgage of the negroes. The sales were made and the bonds were taken by the new trustees, in accordance with the terms of the written request.
For several years the interest on these bonds were collected by the trustees, as it became due, and was paid over by them to Mrs. Creighton, and in 1858 or 1859, George M. Coffin, who was the active trustee, with the knowledge and consent of James R. Pringle, received from L. C. Clifford $20,082, as a part payment of the principal due on the bond, conditioned for the payment of $30,210, and invested the same, without requiring the written request of Mrs. Creighton, in the separate bonds of different persons, each of which was well secured, at the time, by mortgage of real estate, and in 1861, he received, with the consent of his co-trustee, from L. C. Clifford, on the same bond, as a part of the principal due on the same, $1,150, and invested in Confederate States scrip of the $15,000,000 loan, which, I think, was done on the written request of Mrs. Creighton.
On the 30th of June, 1862, George M. Coffin, after having duly executed his will, in which James R. Pringle and William C Bee were appointed the executors, died, leaving the same in full force, and since his death, the executors named in his will, as such, qualified,...
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