Furman University v. McLeod

• Decision Date: 05 July 1961
• Docket Number: No. 17800,17800
• Citation: 238 S.C. 475,120 S.E.2d 865
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: FURMAN UNIVERSITY, Respondent, v. Daniel R. McLEOD, Attorney General of The State of South Carolina, Appellant.

Page 865

120 S.E.2d 865

238 S.C. 475

FURMAN UNIVERSITY, Respondent, v. Daniel R. McLEOD, Attorney General of The State of South Carolina, Appellant.

No. 17800.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

July 5, 1961.

Daniel R. McLeod, Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Haynsworth, Perry, Bryant, Marion & Johnstone, Greenville, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

This appeal involves a determination of the proper construction and effect to be given to certain deeds in the chain of title of Furman University to its property in the City of Greenville, known as the Women's Campus.

The decree of the able and distinguished Judge of the Greenville County Court, the late Honorable W. B. McGowan, fully sets forth the facts and correctly disposes of all issues in the case. After eliminating the first paragraph and subsection 5 of the last paragraph, the remainder of the decree of the County Court is adopted, and will be reported, as the opinion of this Court.

Affirmed.

Decree of the Court

The purpose of the proceeding is to have the Court construe and determine the effect of certain deeds in the chain of title of Furman University to what is known as the Women's Compus on College St., in the City of Greenville, and particularly the deed of December 25, 1854, by which The Trustees of the Greenville Academies conveyed this land to Furman Unversity.

Furman University, a South Carolina corporation organized for educational purposes in 1850, for more than 100 years has maintained and operated in Greenville an institution of higher learning.

It acquired from Vardry McBee during 1851-1852, the property which became known as the Men's Campus of Furman University, located close to the center of what was then the Village of Greenville.

The property which became known as the Women's Compus also came through a deed from Vardry McBee, having been conveyed by him to The Greenville Academies in 1820; by Greenville Academies to Furman University in 1854 and by Furman University to the State Convention of the Baptist Denomination in 1910. The Women's Campus, so called, was also located near the center of the then Village of Greenville but on the opposite side of the commercial section from the Men's Campus, the two campuses being about a mile apart.

In 1937 a consolidation was effected between Furman University and Greenville Woman's College, in the interest of economy and efficiency of administration. Pursuant thereto, the State Convention of the Baptist Denomination conveyed to Furman University the property which had been conveyed to it in 1910 by Furman University. Two lots adjacent thereto, aggregating about 2.23 acres, which had been acquired by Greenville Woman's College, from Bettie H. Orr, also were conveyed to Furman University. Thereafter, Furman University also acquired two other contiguous parcels on College Street from H. K. Townes, as Executor, and The Peoples National Bank of Greenville, as Executor.

In the years following the consolidation of the two schools, there was a very large increase in the number of students in attendance, to such an extent that the facilities of Furman University were taxed to capacity. The classrooms were overcrowded, the accommodations for the students were inadequate, and the buildings and facilities for the many other needs and purposes of the University were antiquated and insufficient to provide for its growing needs.

The operation of the two separate campuses proved to be extremely expensive and unsatisfactory as it required the transportation of students through the main part of the City from one campus to the other for various classes, with resultant loss of time inconvenience and the risk of traffic accidents.

The Board of Trustees of Furman University in 1945 became convinced that the consolidation of the two campuses was the only practical solution and that to meet the need for expansion and provide for the future needs and development of Furman, in keeping with the growth of Greenville, the acquisition of additional lands was an urgent necessity.

The cost of acquiring additional lands adjacent to either campus was prohibitive because of the change and development which had taken place in the immediate vicinity of each. The property adjoining the Men's Campus had become a thickly populated section and only a few blocks away a commercial district had developed.

The Women's Campus, only two blocks from Main Street, was virtually in the center of a rapidly growing commercial section of the City.

In view of the then existing situation, the President of the Board of Trustees of Furman University, in 1947, appointed a Committee to make an investigation and study of Furman University, the problems confronting it and its present and future needs.

As a result and based upon the Committee's report, it was determined by the Board that the most economical and practical solution, one which would take care of expansion needs for the future and prevent the development of an undesirable neighborhood in the vicinity of its campus or the encroachment of commercial establishments, would be the acquisition of an entirely new site.

After careful consideration and study and a thorough investigation by leading architectural and professional firms and the Greenville Real Estate Board, a site was selected and purchased about 1952. The property consists of approximately 1,000 acres located on Buncombe Road about five miles north of Greenville Court House outside the present corporate limits of the City of Greenville and on the fringe of the residential area.

The record shows that the Board of Trustees of Furman University intended that when the University had been relocated on the new site, the former campuses would be sold, leased or developed and the proceeds or income therefrom would be used to defray in part the cost of construction of the new facilities and its general educational purposes.

Some question having arisen concerning the power and authority to sell and convey fee simple title to the property known as the Men's Campus and that comprising its Women's Campus, plaintiff in December, 1952, instituted a proceeding in the Court of Common Pleas for Greenville County against Wilson Clover and others, being all those answering the description of the heirs at law of Vardry McBee, asking that the Court construe the deeds from Vardry McBee under which it acquired the lands known as the Men's Campus and also the deed from Vardry McBee by which he conveyed the Women's Campus and to declare the plaintiff vested with fee simple title to all of said lands with full right and authority to sell, lease and/or otherwise use the same.

The lower Court held that the deeds vested in Furman University fee simple title to all the property comprising the two campuses, free from any trust, restriction or limitation and that Furman University could convey good title thereto.

On appeal, the Supreme Court, in an opinion reported in Furman University v. Glover 226 S.C. 1, 83 S.E.2d 559, 563, affirmed the holding of the Court of Common Pleas to the effect that the heirs of Vardry McBee had no right or interest whatesoever in any of the lands constituting the Men's Campus and that Furman University held fee simple title to the property 'subject to no enforceable condition or restriction, and with the power to grant to any purchaser of all or any part of such lands, a good and marketable title in fee simple.'

With respect to the lands comprising the Women's Campus, the Court likewise held that the heirs of Vardry McBee had no 'title or interest, right of reverter or reentry' and further that the deed of December 25, 1984 from The Greenville Academies to Furman University 'contain[ed] no restriction, condition or other interest enforceably by the heirs of Vardry McBee' but went on to say that 'in so far as the [lower] Court undertook to construe this deed as containing no trust, covenant or condition enforceable by others than the parties to this action, we think it went beyond the issues framed by the pleadings. * * * Accordingly, the construction of that deed, except to the extent of our holding that it gives no rise to any right or interest in the heirs of Vardry McBee, is left open without prejudice to the right of Furman University or any other interested party to bring an appropriate action to have same construed.' In consequence thereof, Furman University has instituted this proceeding for the purpose of having the Court construe and determine the effect of the deed of December 25, 1854, from the Trustees of Greenville Academies to Furman University and the other deeds in its chain of title to the Women's Campus, and also to determine the right and power of plaintiff to go forward with its plans for the relocation of the campus with power to sell, develop, lease, mortgage or otherwise dispose of the property.

Daniel R. McLeod, as Attorney General of South Carolina, upon whom is imposed the responsibility of protecting the interests of the public in matters relating to the administration and enforcement of charitable trusts, has been named Defendant and has filed this answer herein. I find and hold that Daniel R. McLeod, as Attorney General, is the only proper and necessary party defendant to this proceeding. The language of the deeds requiring the maintenance of a school in or near Greenville creates, at most, a public trust. There are no private rights of reversion or reverter. Even if the language should be given that strict construction which the Attorney General advances it would create no private right of action in any individual citizen. The public interest is properly represented by the defendant.

Under Title 1, Section 240 of the 1952 Code of Laws of South Carolina, the Attorney General of South Carolina is charged with the duty of 'Enforce the due application of funds given or appropriated to public charities within the State, [and] prevent breaches of trust in the administration thereof.'

It...