Hamilton v. John C. Mercer Home

• Decision Date: 24 May 1910
• Docket Number: 10
• Citation: Hamilton v. John C. Mercer Home, 228 Pa. 410, 77 A. 630 (Pa. 1910)
• Parties: Hamilton, Appellant, v. John C. Mercer Home
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

77 A. 630

Hamilton, Appellant, v. John C. Mercer Home

228 Pa. 410

No. 10

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

May 24, 1910

Argued April 27, 1910[Copyrighted Material Omitted][Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Appeals, No. 10, Jan. T., 1910, by plaintiffs and No. 83, Jan. T., 1910, by defendants, from decree of C.P. No. 2, Phila.Co., Dec. T., 1908, No. 2,058, dismissing bill in equity in case of John McLure Hamilton, Ethel H. Lucas and the Provident Life & Trust Company, trustees under the will of Lydia I. Biddle, deceased, v. The John C. Mercer Home for Disabled Clergymen of the Presbyterian Faith.Affirmed.

Bill in equity to declare failure of a charitable trust.

SULZBERGER, P.J., filed an opinion in part as follows:

The bill prays for a decree that certain assets and property of the defendant derived under the will of the late Ann Jane Mercer are held in trust for the heirs and next of kin of the said testatrix, and that a further decree be entered determining and enforcing the right of the plaintiffs as heirs and next of kin of the said testatrix to take said property absolutely.

It appears that Ann Jane Mercer died on April 5, 1886, having made her will on November 26, 1885, by paragraph second of which she provided as follows:

"Second.-- Whereas I am seized and possessed of a certain Estate and Property called 'The Mount,' situate in the County of Montgomery in the State of Pennsylvania, which I desire to devote to pious and charitable uses.Now I do hereby give devise and bequeath all my said Estate and Property, called 'The Mount,' situate in the said County of Montgomery in the State of Pennsylvania, together with all the Buildings and Improvements thereon erected with any surrounding or adjacent Property acquired by my husband or myself forming part of the said Estate called 'The Mount.'Together with all the horses Carriages farming utensils furniture goods Beds and Bedding and all other personal property on the premises at the time of my decease which belong to me, to my brotherJohn Hamilton Junior of Bucks County in the State of Pennsylvania Attorney at law his heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns in Trust as soon as possible after my decease to cause and procure a Charter of Incorporation to be granted either by the Legislature or by the proper Court for an Institution or Home to be called 'The John C. Mercer Home for Disabled Clergymen of the Presbyterian Faith' to be established at the said Estate and Property called 'The Mount' which charter shall provide that the said Institution or Home shall be for the support and maintenance of selected Clergymen of the Presbyterian faith who are decayed by age or disabled by infirmity and who do not use tobacco in any shape or form and who in all things shall comply with the laws and regulations of the said Home otherwise to be subject to be discharged by the Board of Managers of said Home whose decision shall be final.That the number of inmates in the Home or Institution shall never exceed its annual nett Rent and Revenue and shall not exceed twelve in number.That the Board of Managers alone are directed to admit into the Home or Institution any clergymen of the Presbyterian faith decayed by age or disabled by infirmity who do not use tobacco in any shape or form and (and) to discharge them whenever it becomes necessary or expedient whose decision shall be final.

"That no part of the said estate and property called 'The Mount' and devised as aforesaid shall be sold or disposed of encumbered or applied to any other use or purpose than as a Home for Disabled Clergymen of the Presbyterian faith as above specified.And I further will and direct that as soon as the said Charter shall have been obtained and recorded my said Trustee shall grant assure and convey all the said ground with the Buildings and Improvements thereon erected, and all the personal property on the said premises belonging to me to the said 'The John C. Mercer Home for Disabled Clergymen of the Presbyterian Faith' their Successors and Assigns to be used and occupied solely for a Home or an Institution for disabled Clergymen of the Presbyterian faith.And in order to provide some means for the support and maintenance of the said home or institution, I do give and bequeath to the said institution, as soon as the same is incorporated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars in trust to keep the same invested in Loans or debts of the United States or of the State of Pennsylvania or in Bonds or Mortgages of real estate within this State free from all previous Incumbrances or in well secured Ground Rents and to collect and receive the Rents Interest and income thereof and to pay and apply the same to the current expenses of the said Home."

And by paragraph sixteenth of which she further provided:

"Sixteenth.-- And as to all the Rest Residue and Remainder of my Estate whatsoever and wheresoever whether Real or Personal I do give devise and bequeath the same to my Executor hereinafter named John Hamilton Junior his heirs executors administrators and assigns to be by him applied and appropriated to such religious and benevolent uses and purposes for the Glory of God and the Extension of his Kingdom in the world, and for the welfare of suffering humanity as he my said Executor in his judgment shall see fit and proper.And my said Executor is not to be held accountable to any person or persons whatsoever for the appropriation of the said Residue of my estate, as I feel confident that it will be properly appropriated and administered by him to such religious and benevolent organizations as may stand in need of the same."

And by paragraph seventeenth of which she further provided:

"Seventeenth.-- I do hereby authorize and empower my Executor above and hereafter named the full power and authority to convert change and modify from time to time at pleasure any and all investments of my said Estate.And I do also fully authorize and empower my said Executor, as he may see proper to grant bargain and sell any portion of my real estate (except the property called 'The Mount' and the PropertyNo. 1819 Delancey Place), either at public or private sale for the best prices that can be obtained therefor, and to receive and receipt for the purchase money.And to sign seal execute acknowledge and deliver the necessary Deeds and conveyances therefor to the purchaser or purchasers thereof his heirs or their Heirs and Assigns forever without any liability on the part of the purchaser to see to the application of the purchase money."

In pursuance of the directions of the will, the defendant corporation was organized under a charter granted by the court of common pleas of Montgomery county on June 21, 1886, by article eighth of which it was provided that:

"This corporation shall have the power to receive, hold and manage all the real estate and personal property devised and bequeathed by the second item of the will of the said Ann Jane Mercer, deceased, and to appropriate the same for the charitable uses and purposes, and in the way and manner provided and directed by the said will.It shall also have power to hold, purchase, transfer, and apply such other real and personal estate and property as it may acquire, not exceeding the amount limited by law; and all the property thereof shall be taken and held subject to the control and disposition of the members of the said corporation."

And by art. X of the said charter it was provided that:

"The property, real and personal, of the said corporation shall at all times remain under the control of its Board of Managers and no part thereof shall ever be subjected to the control of any other corporation, or be diverted from the uses and purposes herein designated."

After said incorporation, to wit, on October 30, 1886, John Hamilton, Jr., trustee under the will of Ann Jane Mercer, granted by deed to the said corporation defendant, in fee, all those several messuages and tracts of lands together called "The Mount" situate in the county of Montgomery; and by another deed bearing even date therewith the said John Hamilton, Jr., as executor of Ann Jane Mercer's will, and as residuary legatee and devisee under said will, conveyed the said premises called "The Mount" to the corporation defendant in fee; and by releases, one dated October 30, 1886, and the other dated October 11, 1886, the legatees under Ann Jane Mercer's will released to the corporation defendant their interest in "The Mount" as legatees.

To the said corporation there was also transferred the sum of $100,000 in trust to pay and apply the income thereof to the current expenses of the home.

The bill alleges that the efforts of the managers of the home during the last twenty-one years to conduct that institution as directed by the will of the testatrix have proven absolutely fruitless; that it is now demonstrated that the charity provided for by the testatrix has not been, and cannot be, carried out; and that the charity has ceased to exist and has absolutely failed of its purpose.

Hence the prayers of the bill.

The answer denies that the charity provided for by the testatrix has not been and cannot be successfully carried out, and this raises the one substantial issue of fact.

The plaintiffs, in support of their contention, rely mainly on the circumstances that in the year 1908, the defendant corporation presented the following petition to the attorney general of the commonwealth:

Here follows a recital of the will and the facts relating to the organization of the corporation.

The petition continued as follows:

"Third.-- The corporation has been in existence for more than twenty-one years and its managers have made every effort to advertise its benefits and to invite those who were entitled...