Rayner v. Nugent

• Decision Date: 21 June 1883
• Citation: 60 Md. 515
• Parties: WILLIAM S. RAYNER v. JAMES E. NUGENT and Robert Riddell Brown, Administrators c. t. a. of John Nugent.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

60 Md. 515

WILLIAM S. RAYNER v. JAMES E. NUGENT and Robert Riddell Brown, Administrators c. t. a. of John Nugent.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 21, 1883

Appeal from the Orphans' Court of Baltimore City.

The questions involved in this appeal arise upon the following exceptions filed by the appellant, as purchaser, to a sale of real estate, made by the appellees, under a power contained in the will of John Nugent, deceased:

The purchaser, William S. Rayner, excepts and objects to the ratification of the above sale of the property reported as sold to him by the administrators, and assigns the following reason therefor:

That the said Nugent acquired title to the said property by virtue of a deed from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Baltimore a body corporate, to him, dated the 10th of August, 1867, and recorded among the Land Records of Baltimore City, in Liber A. M., No. 346, folio 139, etc.

That at the time of said conveyance, the said parcel of land was used for a burial ground or cemetery, and had been used for many years for that purpose. That about one hundred and forty-one certificates had been issued to as many lot-holders, granting them the right of burial in said parcel of ground, and that each one of said lot-holders paid a consideration for said privilege. That at the time of the sale to Nugent, the church returned to a few of the lot-holders the consideration originally paid by them for their lots, but there are still about one hundred and thirty lot-holders who have never been settled with. That this sale to Nugent was not made under the Act of Assembly relating to the sale of burial grounds, and that said lot-holders would have the right to assert their claim against your petitioner, who has notice of their rights. Wherefore said title is clouded and unmarketable, and your petitioner prays that the said sale may be set aside.

In support of these exceptions an agreed statement of facts was filed, the substance of which is set forth in the opinion of the court.

The Orphans' Court overruled the exceptions, and passed an order finally ratifying and confirming the sale. The purchaser appealed.

The cause was submitted to Miller, Stone, Alvey, Irving, and Ritchie, JJ.

Isidor Rayner, for the appellant.

David Stewart, Robert Riddell Brown and John Stewart, for the appellees.

Ritchie J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The question presented by this appeal is, whether or not the right of burial in the property in question, at one time enjoyed by certain lot-holders, has been determined?

In expressing the opinion that such right has been terminated it follows that the order of ratification appealed from was, in our judgment, properly passed.

The property was conveyed to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Baltimore by Robert Oliver by deed dated the 15th of July, 1828. By this deed the ground was conveyed in fee, and without any declaration of use or trust whatever. The church seems, however, from the use to which it was dedicated, to have acquired it as a place of burial.

Certificates were issued in the following form, to some one hundred and forty-one lot-holders:

"Received from _________ fifteen dollars, in payment for one lot in the burial ground of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation, to be used only as a burial place, and subject to the rules adopted by the board of trustees.

Vergus Johnston,

Secretary."

The corporation, in the course of time and before its conveyance to John...