Walker v. Chambers
| Decision Date | 09 December 1915 |
| Docket Number | No. 39/87.,39/87. |
| Citation | 96 A. 359,85 N.J.Eq. 376 |
| Parties | WALKER et al. v. CHAMBERS et al. |
| Court | New Jersey Court of Chancery |
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Bill by Matilda H. Walker and others, executors of Mary A. Walker, deceased, against Mary Chambers and others, for construction of a will. Decision according to opinion.
J. Clarence Conover, of Freehold, for complainants. Samuel A. Besson and Harlan Besson, both of Hoboken, and H. K. Gaston, of Somerville, for defendants.
BACKES, V. C. Mary A. Walker, deceased, left a will giving her estate to institutions, friends, and relatives. It contains 29 items of disposition of specific property or money of stated sums. The last item reads:
"I give, devise and bequeath the remainder of my personal property to my cousins mentioned in this will."
Ten first cousins and seven second cousins are mentioned. The second cousins contend that they are entitled to participate as "cousins," and the question which the executors are unable to solve with security to themselves is whether the residue of the personal property should be divided into 10 or 17 parts. They ask for advice and instructions. Now, who was meant by "cousins"?
Hawkins says:
"A gift to 'cousins' prima facie means only first cousins." Hawkins on Wills (2d Ed., Sang.) 116.
Jarman lays down the same rule. 6th Ed., p. 162.
In Stevenson v. Abingdon, 31 Beav. 305 (54 Eng. Reprint, 1156), it was said by the Master of the Rolls:
"Prima facie the word 'cousin' means first cousin, and not a first cousin once or more times removed; still less does it mean a second or third cousin, which might go on indefinitely."
Oxford Dictionary defines "cousin" to be:
The definition given by Webster is:
The Century Dictionary, vol. 2, gives it:
In its usual and ordinary acceptation the term "cousin" does not connote second or third cousin, and in common parlance and daily intercourse it is generally understood to relate to a child of an uncle or aunt, first cousin, and, without anything else to guide us, it is to be assumed that the testatrix used it in the popular sense, and so it was held by Lord Chancellor Cranworth in Stoddard v....
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... ... E. Beers and William L. Beers, both of New Haven, for ... appellants Rudolph C. Culver et al ... John D ... Walker, of Stamford, for appellant Edward T. Franklin ... Alfred ... B. Aubrey, of Meriden, for appellees Charles H. Tyler, ... administrator, ... assumed that a testator used these terms in the ordinary and ... popular sense. Walker v. Chambers, 85 N.J.Eq. 376, ... 96 A. 359. " Usage makes language, and *** the intent of ... those who make wills will obviously best be found by giving ... ...
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Culver v. Union & New Haven Trust Co.
...absence of contrary context, it is to be assumed that a testator used these terms in the ordinary and popular sense. Walker v. Chambers, 85 N. J. Eq. 376, 96 A. 359. "Usage makes language, and * * * the intent of those who make wills will obviously best be found by giving it the popular and......
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