Tr.S Of The Gen. v. Guthrie

• Decision Date: 13 June 1889
• Citation: 86 Va. 125,10 S.E. 318
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Trustees of the General, Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States et al. v. Guthrie et al.

10 S.E. 318

(86 Va. 125)

Trustees of the General,

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States et al.

v.Guthrie et al.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

June 13, 1889.

¹

Charitable Bequests—Religious Societies —Certainty of Beneficiaries.

1. A corporation was created by an act of North Carolina under the name of the " Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, " with power to acquire property for the purpose of carrying on Christian education, foreign and domestic missions, publication of religious books, etc., to be held under the direction of the general assembly. It was also provided that any committees, boards, or agencies established by the general assembly for any of the purposes stated should be deemed branches of the corporation, and that any gift or devise to the corporation for any such boards, etc., should pass to them. The corporation created an agency for the purpose of carrying on the work of foreign missions, called the "Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, " which was commonly known among laymen of the church as the "Board of Foreign Missions, " and its executive officer was known to members of the church as " the secretary " of such board, and the corporation itself was known as the " Southern Presbyterian Church. " On bill to construe a will executed long after such corporation was created, and leaving a residuary legacy to " the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and known as ' Southern Presbyterian Church, '"it appeared that testator had been for many years a member and elder in a Presbyterian Church which was part of the corporation, and that he was especially interested in foreign missions, and had said that he intended to leave a bequest for that cause. Held, that the legacy was not void for uncertainty of the beneficiary, but should be paid to the corporation for the use of its Executive Committee of Foreign Missions.

2. The creation of such corporation was not the incorporation of a church, so as to render the bequest void under Const. Va. art. 5, § 17,, which forbids the incorporation of any church or religious denomination, but provides that the legislature "may secure the title to church property."

3. The bequest is not invalid, as being "an indefinite charity for religious purposes. "²

W. W. Henry and A. F. Robertson, for appellants. Harrison & Tucker, for appellees.

Richardson, J. This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Augusta county, rendered on the 4th day of June, 1887, in the cause wherein John B. Guthrie and others were plaintiffs, and Guthrie's executor and others were defendants. The bill was filed by John B. Guthrie, claiming to be an heir at law of Hugh G. Guthrie, deceased, on his own behalf, and on behalf of the other heirs of said decedent, against the executors of said Hugh G. Guthrie, for the purpose of having a judicial construction of the will of the decedent, and especially of the ninth clause thereof, and to contest the validity of the bequest thereby made, which clause is in these words: "After paying off all my debts and the foregoing legacies, I bequeath and will all the money left or remaining in the hands of my executors, as soon as collected, to be paid to the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and known as 'Southern Presbyterian Church.'" The bill charges, as to this clause, "that the beneficiary therein is vague, uncertain, and unknown, and has no real existence, and never has had, and that your honor cannot create and raise up a hand, where none before existed, to receive the bounty of the testator."

By a decree in the cause of December 9, 1886, the Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and Rev. M. H. Houston, the secretary of the Committee of Foreign Missions of said church, were, on their petition, admitted as parties defendant, and the petition was treated as an answer to the bill, and an inquiry was at the same time ordered to ascertain who are the beneficiaries under said ninth clause, and to what person or corporation the said legacy should be decreed, with directions that in making such inquiry parol evidence, and evidence of the surrounding circumstances, be allowed, showing, or tending to show, what the testator intended by the language used in said clause. The order of reference was executed by Commissioner John M. Kinney, who, on the 4th of May, 1887, returned his report, an able and exhaustive one, and with it the evidence upon which he based his conclusions. By this report it appears that the Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States was a body corporate under the laws of North Carolina, and that Rev. M. H. Houston was the secretary of the Committee of Foreign Missions of said church, and was intended to be described by the testator by the language, " the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, " and known as "Southern Presbyterian Church, " which was the way in which the said committee and church were popularly known in the community in which the testator lived; and therefore the commissioner concluded and reported " that the legacy bequeathed to the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, etc., should be decreed to the Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, for the use and benefit of the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of said corporation." And the commissioner also returned with his report a copy of the North Carolina act of incorporation, by which it appeared that said corporate body was empowered " to take and hold all such estate, property, and effects as may be acquired by gift, purchase, devise, or bequest, to aid and enable the said General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to undertake and carry on the work of Christian education, of foreign and domestic missions, of the publication of such books, tracts, and papers as are connected with the diffusion of religious literature and learning, " etc. And by said act of incorporation it is also provided "that if the general assembly should establish any committees, boards, or agencies, for any of the purposes recited in section first, the same shall be held and deemed to be branches or this incorporation, " etc. It also appears by the commissioner's report that this corporation had not reached, including this bequest of something over $4,000, the limit to which it was restricted by its charter.

To this report of the commissioner the plaintiffs excepted. The cause, having been matured, came on and was heard at the June term, 1887, when the said circuit court decreed "that the bequest under the will of Hugh G. Guthrie, deceased, to the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, commonly known as the 'Southern Presbyterian Church, ' is null and void and of no effect, and that the same is properly distributable among the next of kin of Hugh G. Guthrie, deceased, according to the laws of descents and distributions." And from that decree the Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and M. H. Houston, secretary of the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, obtained an appeal.

After a most careful consideration of the authorities and the elaborate arguments of counsel, written and oral, we arrive at the conclusion, without hesitation, that there is not room for a rational doubt that this case is, in every essential particular, ruled by the case of Society v. Churchman, 80 Va. 718, and that the decree of the court below should be reversed, as having no foundation in either law or reason. In the Cuurch-man Case, as in this, the bequest was to a corporation, and for purposes within the scope of the corporate powers and duties; both being charitable bequests to religious uses. In that case there was a slight discrepancy in the description of the donee of the charity, but, by parol proof of the circumstances surrounding the testator, his meaning and intention was made clear, and this it is competent to do in such cases. See Roy's Ex'rs v. Rowzie, 25 Grat. 605. The same defect exists in the present case. The language of the testator is: " After paying off all my debts and the foregoing legacies, I bequeath and will all the money left or remaining in the hands of my executors, as soon as collected, to be paid to the secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and known as 'Southern Presbyterian Church.'" In reference to this clause, it is charged in the bill of complainants that the beneficiary is vague, uncertain, and unknown, and has no real existence, and never had, and that the court cannot create and raise up a hand, where none before existed, to receive the testator's bounty, and upon this ground they invoke the decree of the court declaring the bequest null and void. This contention rests upon no other or higher ground than that the testator describes the beneficiary as the "Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, " etc., when the true designation is, " Secretary of the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, " or simply " Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, " of which committee the Rev. M. H. Houston is secretary.

The Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, by their president, James Hemphill, and M. H. Houston, secretary as aforesaid, answered the bill, denying the alleged invalidity of the bequest, demonstrating that the beneficiary was thoroughly identified, and claiming the bequest as due to the trustees for the use of said Committee of For eign Missions, —all of which is made clear by Commissioner Kinney in his able and exhaustive report,...