Phillips v. Phillips

• Decision Date: 29 June 1914
• Citation: 91 A. 452,10 Del.Ch. 314
• Court: Court of Chancery of Delaware
• Parties: ANNA M. PHILLIPS and WILLIAM H. PHILLIPS, Executors of Hannah R. Weldin, deceased, v. SARAH LOUISA PHILLIPS, PHOEBE ANNA MOUSLEY, CHARLES WESLEY WELDIN, ANNA M. WELDIN, SARAH R. WELDIN, FRANK GOODMAN, HORACE GOODMAN, GEORGE R. WELDIN, SAMUEL J. WELDIN, WILLIAM M. WELDIN, SARAH V. MCCLEES, HANNAH I. BROOMALL, WILLIAM ROBINSON WELDIN, and THE TRUSTEES OF THE MOUNT PLEASANT METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

91 A. 452

10 Del.Ch. 314

ANNA M. PHILLIPS and WILLIAM H. PHILLIPS, Executors of Hannah R. Weldin, deceased, v. SARAH LOUISA PHILLIPS, PHOEBE ANNA MOUSLEY, CHARLES WESLEY WELDIN, ANNA M. WELDIN, SARAH R. WELDIN, FRANK GOODMAN, HORACE GOODMAN, GEORGE R. WELDIN, SAMUEL J. WELDIN, WILLIAM M. WELDIN, SARAH V. MCCLEES, HANNAH I. BROOMALL, WILLIAM ROBINSON WELDIN, and THE TRUSTEES OF THE MOUNT PLEASANT METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Court of Chancery of Delaware, New Castle

June 29, 1914

BILL OF INTERPLEADER AND FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO EXECUTORS. Hannah R Weldin by will dated April 7, 1906, and a codicil dated February, 1911, both probated shortly after her death, which occurred August 28, 1911, made the following gifts:

"Twenty-third. I hereby give and bequeath for the benefit of Mt. Pleasant Methodist E. Church, near Bellevue, Del., the sum of one thousand dollars, the money to be paid to the trustees of said church, to be invested in real estate, and the interest to be applied yearly toward the salary of the minister in charge, except five dollars of the interest, which I wish to go toward helping keep, yearly, the cemetery mowed, and the wall in repair.

"In said will I have given the reversions (if any) of my money to the Women's Home Missionary Society,' I hereby revoke that gift to said society, and give the reversions to the Trustees of Mt. Pleasant Church, near Bellevue, Del., to be invested in real estate, and the interest to be applied to help keep said church and parsonage in repair."

The testatrix owned no real estate at the time of her death, and her estate consisted entirely of personal property. On December 11, 1852, the congregation of Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church was duly incorporated under Chapter 39 of the Revised Code by the election of trustees and the certification by them of a corporate name, "The Trustees of Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church," which certificate was duly recorded.

Having administered the estate and paid all the legacies except those above mentioned, and being uncertain as to the proper interpretation of the will, the executors, in view thereof and of the conflicting claims as to the validity of the gifts, filed a bill for instructions, making as defendants the legatees and those who would be distributees of the personal estate of the testatrix in case she had died intestate.

The sections of the statute which affect the validity of the gift are Sections 4 and 11 of Chapter 89, Volume 26, Laws of Delaware, approved March 14, 1911, viz.:

"Sec 4. The trustees so elected and their successors shall be a corporation, by the name so adopted and certified; shall have perpetual succession with all the incidents and franchises of a corporation aggregate, and with power to purchase, receive hold, mortgage and enjoy property, real and personal for the use of the said society or congregation, their ministers or members, or for schools, almshouses or burying grounds. The act of a majority of the trustees shall be valid.

"Sec 11. But all gifts, or grants, to any such corporation, of any real estate, or of money, securities or other thing of value, to be laid out in real estate, shall be by deed duly executed, delivered, acknowledged and recorded at least one year before the death of the donor or grantor, to take effect presently for the use of the corporation, and without any power of revocation, trust, condition, or limitation whatever, or the same shall be void, unless such grant shall be really and bona fide for a full and valuable consideration actually paid, without fraud, or collusion, before executing such deed."

The case was heard on bill and answers.

George Lodge, for the church.

Frank L. Speakman, for next of kin of testatrix.

OPINION

THE CHANCELLOR

The question raised by the bill is whether the gifts to the church were prohibited by the statute of Delaware and so void. Here the legatee is a religious corporation incorporated under a statute applicable specially and solely to societies and congregations of Christians. The present statute controlling this case was passed in 1911, but the portion of it specially applicable here is part of the ancient statute enacted in 1787. It was part of the statute which regulated and controlled both the character and amount of property which churches could acquire and the purposes for which the property could be acquired and used. A brief mention of the earlier statutes is desirable.

Among the statutes published in the earliest compilation of the laws of and relating to the State of Delaware was the Act 17 George II, c. 8. See Hall's Digest, Revised Code of 1829, pp. 457, 458. This Act authorized religious societies of Protestants to purchase or take by gift land for burying grounds and erecting churches, houses of religious worship, schools and almshouses, but prohibited them from purchasing, or taking by gift, land for the maintenance or support of the churches houses of worship, schools or almshouses, or any other purpose. In short, such a corporation could either buy, or receive by gift, land for burial grounds, or for erecting churches, schools and almshouses, but for no other purpose. In 1787, an Act was passed by the General Assembly of Delaware to provide a method for the incorporation of religious societies. See Hall's Digest, Revised Code of 1829, p. 459. It provided for the election of trustees by the congregation and the certification of a name, and the corporation was thereby created. The corporation was authorized to purchase and take land for the use of the congregation. But all gifts and grants of land, or moneys "to be laid out and disposed of" in the purchase of land were rendered void, unless made by deed at least twelve months before the death of the grantor, or unless for full consideration paid without collusion. The Act of 1787 was construed in 1835 in the case of Ferguson v. Hedges, 1 Del. 524, 1 Harr. 524, where the court held invalid a direct devise of land to St. Andrew's Church generally, and in the case of State v. Wiltbank, 2 Del. 18, 2 Harr. 18, where there was a gift to a religious society by will of the proceeds of the sale of land to be applied towards educating poor children of members of the church, and the gift was considered as though it were a devise of land and held to be invalid under the Act of 1787.

Neither of the above acts seem to have been directly and expressly repealed. But section 14 of the Act of 1787 declared that the prior Act 17 George II, c. 8, was repealed so far as it was altered or amended by the later Act of 1787. It would seem clear that after 1787 the enabling provisions of the earlier statute were repealed. A statute which invalidated a general devise of land to a religious corporation certainly altered and amended a prior statute which allowed such a society to take land by devise for certain designated purposes. In discussing these early statutes the court in State v. Wiltbank, supra, does not seem to have expressed themselves on this point, and it was not necessary in that case to do so, for they held that the gift there considered was invalid even under the words used in the statute of George. It is certainly true, however, that as a result of the later statute the power to take by gift land, or money to be laid out in land, was entirely taken away from such corporations. Even a gift for the erection of a church was made invalid thereby. The purpose of the gift, or the use to be made of the thing given, did not affect the question as to its validity.

But in the Revised Code of 1852 there was substituted for them a new Act combining some of the features of each. See Revised Code, c. 39 p. 105. This chapter was continued in the later publications and was variously amended from time to time, but has as yet received no judicial construction on the point here involved. By an Act approved March 14, 1911, the chapter concerning religious societies was affected by striking out of it all the sections thereof then in force and inserting in lieu thereof a new statute. See Delaware Laws, vol. 26, c. 89, p. 189. Some of the sections are re-enactments of the existing law, some sections are changed, and some sections are new ones not in prior statutes. It is safe to say, then, that all prior statutes inconsistent with it are repealed by this Act of 1911. It follows, then, that as the testatrix whose will is under consideration died after the passage of the Act of 1911, the validity of the provisions of her will are governed by that Act.

After providing the old method of incorporating congregations of Christians, the Act of 1911 empowered the corporation to purchase and hold property, real and personal, for the use of the congregation, their ministers or members, or for schools, almshouses or burying grounds. See section 4. Then follow several sections as to the election of trustees, duties of officers and the like. By Section 10, the rector, wardens and vestrymen of any Protestant Episcopal Church on certifying their name or style could be constituted a corporation, with the franchises, rights and powers vested by the Act in trustees of other religious societies. Then follows section 11, which is quoted above.

Judging from the context immediately preceding section 11, it is possible to hold that it refers to corporations described in section 10, for the words "such corporation" might be given this very narrow construction. If so, then it does not apply to the gift under consideration,...