Lyle v. Richards
| Decision Date | 12 April 1823 |
| Parties | LYLE and others v. RICHARDS. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
CASE STATED.
J. H the elder, being seised in fee, devised lands to his nephew W. H., for life, without impeachment of waste, and after his decease, to the first son of his body, for and during his natural life, without impeachment of waste, and after his decease, to the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten that is to say, the first, second, third, fourth and every other son and sons successively of said first son, as they shall be in seniority of age and priority of birth, and to the heirs male of the body lawfully begotten of such first & c., son and sons, respectively; and in default of such issue, to the second son of said W. H., for and during his natural life, & c., and after his decease to the heirs male of the body of such second son lawfully begotten, that is to say, & c. (as before with the first); and in default of such issue to the third, fourth, fifth and every other son and sons successively of the body of said W. H one after another, according as they shall be in seniority of age and priority of birth, for their natural lives, & c and after their deaths, & c. (as before with the first and second); and for default of such issue, to his nephew A. H., for life, & c., without impeachment of waste, and after his decease, to the first son of his body, & c., exactly as it had been to the issue of W. H., and for default of all such issue male as aforesaid, to the heirs of the body of the said W. H., and for default of such heirs, then to the heirs of the body of the said A. H., and after, other remainders over, remainder to the right heirs of the testator. The will was dated 4th March 1776, and the testator died in the year 1783, at which time, his nephews W. H. and A. H. were both living, and also the said A. H.'s first son J. and second son A. A. H. died before his brother W. H., leaving issue two sons, J. and A., and four daughters; W. H. died without issue; after his death, J., son of A. H., conveyed the land, by deed of bargain and sale, to T. P. in fee; to this deed, A. was party, and it was declared to be, to make T. P. tenant to the præ cipe in a common recovery, which was to be suffered for the purpose of vesting the fee simple in J. H., which was accordingly suffered in the Supreme Court, at March Term 1803, with treble voucher, the said T. P., J. and A. being severally vouched: Held, that J. was seised of an estate for life in possession, with contingent remainders to hissons successively in tail-male, and that A. had an estate for life vested in interest, with contingent remainders to his sons successively in tail-male, after which, a remainder in tail-general was vested in J., with remainders in feesimple, vested in J. and A. and their sisters; that the recovery was well suffered, and J., by it, became seised of an estate in fee-simple in possession.
The common-law doctrine of forfeiture, for the purpose of barring contingent remainders, has been extended to Pennsylvania.[1]
COVENANT by James Lyle, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Edward Ellice and Thomas B. Barclay, assignee of Francis L. O'Beirne and Rebecca, his wife, James Lyle, John B. Newman and William H. Todd, assignees of Henry Beckett and Mary, his wife, Joseph R. Ingersoll and William Rawle, Jr., assignees of Hartman Kuhn and Ellen, his wife, and Andrew Hamilton, Margaret Hamilton and Mary Hamilton, the said Andrew in his own right, and together with the said Margaret, Mary, Rebecca O'Beirne, Mary Beckett, and Ellen Kuhn, being heirs and assignees of James Hamilton, deceased, plaintiffs, against Samuel Richards, defendant, in which the following case was stated for the opinion of the court:
James Hamilton, Esq., the elder, formerly of Bush Hill, in the county of Philadelphia, being seised in fee of the estate on which he lived, made his last will and testament, dated the 4th March 1776, with codicils thereto, subsequent in date, by which he devised the estate, called Bush Hill, containing about 153 acres and 148 perches of land, together with a city square of ground, to his nephew, William Hamilson, for life, with remainders to the children of his nephew, Andrew Hamilton, as follows:
To his nephew, William Hamilton, second son of his brother, deceased, Bush Hill, & c., containing 154 acres, and other property, for life, without impeachment of waste; and after his decease, to the first son of his body, lawfully begotten, for and during his natural life, without impeachment of waste; and after his decease, to the heirs male of the body of such first son, lawfully begotten, that is to say, the first, second, third, fourth and every other son and sons successively of the first son of the said William Hamilton, lawfully begotten, as they shall be in seniority of age and priority of birth, and to the heirs male of the body, lawfully begotten, of such first, second, third, fourth and every other son and sons respectively; and in default of such issue, to the second son of the body of William Hamilton, for and during his natural life, & c., and after his decease, to the heirs male of the body of such second son, lawfully begotten, that is to say, & c., as before with the first: and in default of such issue, to the third, fourth, fifth and every other son and sons successively of the body of the said William Hamilton, one after another, according as they shall be in seniority of age and priority of birth, for their natural lives, & c., and after their deaths, & c., as before with the first and second. And for default of such issue, to his nephew, Andrew Hamilton, for life, without impeachment of waste, and after his decease, to the first son of his body, & c., exactly as it had been to the issue successively of William Hamilton. And for default of all such issue male as aforesaid, to the heirs of the body of the said William Hamilton, and for default of such heirs, then to the heirs of the body of the said Andrew Hamilton; and for default of such heirs, then to his nephew, John Allen, for and during his natural life. & c., and after his decease, to the first, second, third and all and every son and sons of the body of the said John Allen, and to the heirs male of their several and respective bodies, the one after the other, & c., the elder being always preferred to the younger; and in default of such issue, to his nephew, Andrew Allen, for life, & c., and after his decease, to the heirs male of his body, lawfully begotten; and in default of such heirs male, to his nephew, James Allen, for life, and after his decease, to the heirs male of his body, lawfully begotten; and for default of such heirs male, then to his nephew, William Allen, Jr., and to the heirs of his body, lawfully begotten, for ever; and in default of all such issue, then to his own right heirs for ever.
Provided, that if any such heirs of the body of any such person shall happen to be two or more females, then the first or eldest of such two or more females shall take the premises as special heir, and she only and solely; and the heirs of her body lawfully begotten, shall have and enjoy the whole of the devised premises to herself alone, and to the heirs of her body, without partition or division. And on failure of such issue of the first or eldest of such females, then the same shall succeed and remain whole and entire, without partition or division, to the second, or next eldest of such two or more females, and to the heirs of her body, lawfully begotten, and so, from time to time, in like manner, as often as that case shall happen.
And he empowered every person who should at any time be in possession of the lands, & c., to do all acts, & c., for granting out for any estates, however large, of any of the Lancaster lots, reserving ground-rents. And with regard to Bush Hill, authorized any person in possession, to grant on building leases, not exceeding sixty-five years.
He devised an estate in Hunterdon, New Jersey, to James Hamilton, for his more liberal maintenance and education, in fee; and in case of his death, under age, then to the second and every other sons of Andrew Hamilton, in succession; and if none of them attained 21 years of age, then to William Hamilton in fee.
William Hamilton was appointed residuary legatee and devisee; and William Hamilton, Andrew Allen and John Allen were nominated executors.
The said James Hamilton, in the year 1783, died unmarried, without issue, seised of the estate in question. William Hamilton, the devisee in the said will mentioned, entered into the premises, and died seised thereof, in the year 1813, unmarried, and without issue. Andrew Hamilton in the said will mentioned, died before William. The children of Andrew Hamilton, then living, consisted of the following: first, James Hamilton, the eldest son, Andrew Hamilton, the second son, born November 4th 1776, Margaret Hamilton, the eldest daughter, Mary Hamilton, the second daughter; Ann Lyle, another daughter of Andrew Hamilton, was dead, leaving Rebecca O'Beirne, Mary Beckett and Ellen Kuhn. After the death of the said William Hamilton, James Hamilton, above named, the eldest son of Andrew Hamilton, the same Andrew that is mentioned in the will of James Hamilton, the elder, and above named, entered on the premises under the will of his granduncle, James, and continued seised of the same until the common recovery and conveyance hereafter mentioned. James and Andrew Hamilton, at the time of the suffering of the common recovery hereafter mentioned, were unmarried, and without issue.
On the 5th day of March 1814, a deed to lead the uses of a common recovery about to be suffered of the premises, was made by the said James Hamilton, conveying the said Bush Hill estate and city square of...
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