Rotmanskey v. Heiss

• Citation: 39 A. 415,86 Md. 633
• Parties: ROTMANSKEY et al. v. HEISS.
• Decision Date: 04 January 1898
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

39 A. 415

86 Md. 633

ROTMANSKEY et al. v. HEISS.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

January 4, 1898

Appeal from circuit court of Baltimore city.

Bill in equity by William S. Heiss against Sarah Rotmanskey and another. From a decree in favor of complainant, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Argued before MCSHERRY, C.J., and BRYAN, FOWLER, BRISCOE, PAGE ROBERTS, and BOYD, JJ.

B. H Hartogensis, for appellants.

T. J Schaumloeffel, for appellee.

BRYAN J.

In 1887, John M. Heiss, now deceased, executed a deed to his three children, John, Louisa, and William, which conveyed to them four leasehold lots of ground in the city of Baltimore. The conveyance was made upon the following trust: "To have and to hold the said four described parcels of ground and premises, with the rights and appurtenances aforesaid unto the said John C. C. Heiss, Louisa H. Heiss, and William S. Heiss, in trust that the said John M. Heiss may be allowed to collect and receive the rents, income, and profits issuing and payable out of said property, and to apply the same to his own use during the term of his natural life, and, in case all or any of the said grantees or their issue shall survive the said grantor, then the said property shall vest absolutely in the said grantees and their issue per stirpes in equal shares, each of said grantees being a stirps." William Heiss has acquired the interest of the two other grantees. He made a contract to sell three of these lots to Rotmanskey and his wife, and the only question before us is whether he has a good marketable title.

The deed was evidently the work of an unskillful draftsman. But we think that its meaning is quite evident. It was the intention of the grantor that such of his children as might survive him should each have an equal share of the property and that, if any of them should die before him, and leave descendants surviving, the children so surviving should receive the share which the parent would have received if he had outlived the grantor. The words of the deed are: "If any of the grantees, or their issue, shall survive the said grantor, then the said property shall vest absolutely in the said grantees and their issue." That is to say, if the grantees should survive, they should have it; if the issue should survive, they shall have it. The words are not capable of being construed with literal grammatical strictness. Literally they would mean, if either the grantees or their...