Lawrence C. Jones, Attorney General v. Vermont Asbestos Corporation

• Decision Date: 10 January 1936
• Parties: LAWRENCE C. JONES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, v. VERMONT ASBESTOS CORPORATION ET AL
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

182 A. 291

108 Vt. 79

LAWRENCE C. JONES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, v. VERMONT ASBESTOS CORPORATION ET AL

Supreme Court of Vermont

January 10, 1936

Special Term at Rutland, November, 1935.

Effect of Reservation of Land for Public Uses in Town Charter---Title to Gospel and School Lands Reserved in Charter---Municipal Corporation as Trustee for Religious Purposes---Trusteeship of College Lands in Towns Chartered after University, Transfer to University by Later Act---Consent of Town to Transfer Inferred---Beneficiaries of Trust of Gospel and School Lands---Of College Lands---Private Trust, Necessity of Consent of Beneficiaries to Change in Corpus---Gospel, School, and College Lands Held for Charitable Uses---Grants Unlimited as to Time Permissible in Case of Charitable Trusts---Public Charity Defined---Jurisdiction of Court of Chancery over Charitable Trusts---Jurisdiction to Authorize Sale of Trust Property---Extent of Jurisdiction---Power of State over Property of Municipal Corporations Held for Governmental Purposes and for Charitable Purposes---Conveyance in Fee of Public Lands Void---Authority to Execute Durable Leases of Public Lands---Nature of Durable Leases---Power of Legislature to Authorize Conveyance of Fee of Public Lands---Consent of Beneficiaries to Such Conveyance Unnecessary---Sale of Trust Property Authorizezd by Legislature as Parens Patriae---Duty of Sovereign as to Property in Charitable Trust Based on Incapacity of Future Beneficiaries---Competency of Legislature to Enact Statutes Authorizing Conveyance in Fee of Property Granted by State for Charitable Purposes---Consent of Selectmen as Consent of Town---Consent of Student Beneficiaries Not Necessary, Their Rights Protected by Trustees---Adequacy of Provision for Investment of Proceeds and Beneficial Character of Conversion Questions for Legislature---Statutes Regulating Working of Mines and Quarries on Public Lands Not Applicable to Gospel School, and College Lands after Valid Conveyance of Fce---Title to Gold and Silver Mines Reserved in Town Charter---Mine as Meaning Excavation, as Meaning Deposit---Mine Used as Meaning Deposit in Reservation in Town Charter---Title to Gold and Silver Mines in King at Common Law---Effect on Title to Mines Reserved to State of Conveyance of Public Lands under Legislative Authorization---Possibility of Separate Possession and Inheritances in Mines and Surface.

1. Where charter of town granted by State reserved lands for public uses, no title to such lands passed to the original proprietor of the town, but the reservation was, in effect, a grant or dedication to public uses.

2. The title to the gospel and school lands reserved in the charter of a town thereby became vested in the municipality as trustee for the purposes to which the lands were devoted.

3. A municipal corporation can hold lands as trustee for religious purposes.

4. Where charter of university empowered it to take charge of grants of lands already made for benefit of a college, lands reserved as college lands under charter of town subsequently granted, were originally reserved to the town; but by later acts of the General Assembly, under which the university was invested with power to take charge of all college lands theretofore granted and reserved, the university was substituted for the town as trustee of such lands.

5. Consent of town, if necessary to validity of such change in trusteeship, is inferable from lapse of time and long continued acquiescence.

6. Beneficiaries of trust of gospel and school lands held by town are those present and future inhabitants of the town who join in social worship or avail themselves of educational advantages of town schools.

7. Beneficiaries of trust of college lands held by university include all persons now living or who may be born hereafter who are or who may be entitled to become students at the institution.

8. In the case of a private trust, voluntarily created, without express power of revocation or modification, the corpus cannot be changed without the consent of all parties interested, including the beneficiaries.

9. Gospel, school, and college lands reserved in charter of town, being grants for educational and religious purposes with no question of private gain, profit, or advantage, for the benefit of an uncertain and indefinite number of persons, and unlimited as to time, are held to public charitable uses.

10. A gift is a public charity when there is a benefit to be conferred on the public at large, or some portion thereof, or upon an indefinite number of persons.

11. Grants in trust unlimited as to time are permissible and proper in the case of a charitable trust, though void by application of the rule against perpetuities in the case of a private trust.

12. The court of chancery has inherent jurisdiction to administer charitable trusts, whether derived from private donation or gift from the Legislature.

13. The court of chancery in the exercise of such jurisdiction may authorize the sale of the trust property where, although the object of the trust is still existent, the possession of the particular estate has become no longer suitable for the purposes to which it was originally devoted, and its alienation is essential to the beneficial administration of the charity, the avails of the sale to remain subject to the charitable intention of the donor.

14. Such power to authorize a sale of the trust property should be used with caution, but may be exercised even where the donor of the charity has expressly forbidden alienation.

15. The power of the State over the property of municipal corporations held and used for governmental purposes is not restrained by the Fourteenth Amendment or the contract clause of the Federal Constitution, but this principle is not applicable to lands held in trust by such corporations for educational or charitable purposes.

16. Though there is no specific prohibition of complete alienation in our Constitution or in any statute, an attempted conveyance of the fee of public lands, such as gospel, school, or college lands, is void.

17. The authority conveyed by statute upon towns and university to lease gospel, school, and college lands includes the power to execute so-called durable leases, for "as long as grass grows and water runs," with covenants for rent and a right of reentry for breach of condition.

18. The Legislature has power to authorize the conveyance in fee simple of gospel and school lands held by a town and of college lands held by a university, free from the charitable trusts under which such lands are held, and without the consent of the beneficiaries thereof, the proceeds of such sale to be impressed with the trust and administered for the purposes for which the grants were made.

19. Where Legislature authorizes sale of property of infants or other persons not sui juris, or of property impressed with a public charitable trust, it does so in its capacity as parens patriae.

20. Future beneficiaries of a public charity being incapable of managing and preserving the property, this duty devolves upon the sovereign represented by the Legislature.

21. No. 65, Acts of 1935, authorizing the University of Vermont, upon certain conditions, to convey college lands in fee simple, and No. 239, Acts of 1935, authorizing the town of Belvidere, upon like conditions, to convey in fee simple lands reserved for gospel and town school rights, were within the competency of the General Assembly to enact, such acts being in effect the act of the donor of the trust removing a restriction from the grant and giving power and authority to the trustees to deal with the property in a manner hitherto prohibited.

22. Consent of selectmen to conveyance in fee under statutory authorization of lands held by town as charitable trust is consent of town as trustee, and nothing more is necessary.

23. Where it is sought to sell property subject to a charitable trust for the benefit of students at a university or in town schools, the proceeds of such sale to be held for the same purposes, the consent of the students is not necessary to the validity of such sale; the potential rights of such students are, in the aggregate, to be exercised, asserted, and protected by the corporation holding the trust property or other trustee thereof.

24. Question whether proper provision for safe investment of proceeds of sale of property subject to charitable trust is made in act authorizing conveyance is for Legislature to decide; it is enough if Legislature, acting according to its judgment, in view of existing facts, comes fairly to conclusion that conversion will be for benefit of those entitled.

25. Where gospel, school, or college lands in a town are conveyed in fee simple to a private corporation as authorized by statute, P. L. 8209, 8210, and 8211, prescribing conditions upon which mines or quarries discovered on public lands may be worked, have no application after such sale; the corporation is deemed to be in possession of whatever lies underneath the surface in accordance with the maxim cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum.

26. Words in charter of town reserving all gold and silver mines constitute exception to grant contained in charter, and title to any such mines remained in State as grantor.

27. A mine, in its primary and restricted meaning, is an underground excavation made for the purpose of extracting minerals; in a broader sense the word is used to describe a deposit of such material suitable for excavation and working.

28. Where gold and silver mines were served to State in original charter of town, held that reservation was intended to include deposits of gold and silver and not merely excavations for obtaining such metals then existing.

29. At common law...