Weeks v. Hobson

• Decision Date: 01 January 1890
• Citation: 150 Mass. 377,23 N.E. 215
• Parties: WEEKS et al. v. HOBSON et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

150 Mass. 377

23 N.E. 215

WEEKS et al. v. HOBSON et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Essex.

January 1, 1890

January 1, 1890

HEADNOTES

COUNSEL

W.H Moody, for appellants.

H.G Nichols, for appellees.

OPINION

KNOWLTON, J.

The will of Ezekiel J.M. Hale, late of Haverhill, deceased contains the following provision: "It is my will, and I hereby direct, that my executrix and executors and trustees shall convey to the corporation of the Haverhill City Hospital, when established, the lot of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in said Haverhill, in the county of Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, between Kent and Moore streets, adjoining the land of J.B. Swett, and formerly owned by J. Howard Nichols, together with the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in money; said lot of land to be used as a site for a hospital, and such portion of said fifty thousand dollars to be used and expended as may be deemed necessary for the construction of such hospital buildings as the wants of the city may require; the remaining portion of said fifty thousand dollars to be held in trust, and the income therefrom to be applied to defraying the current expenses of said hospital." It also provides for the creation of a board of trustees to manage and control the hospital property, six of whom are to be chosen by the mayor and city council of Haverhill, each to hold office for life and the seventh is to be the acting mayor of the city for the time being, who is to be chairman ex officio. The trustees have been chosen, and have since been incorporated by St.1888, c. 356, the property has been conveyed to them, and they now hold both the real estate and the money, according to the directions of the will. About March 1, 1886, they filed a bill in this court, representing that the land, by reason of its location, its sloping surface, and from other causes, was not a suitable site for a hospital building, and praying for leave to sell and convey it free from all trusts, and to reinvest the proceeds in such manner as should best effect the objects for which it was given by the will. After due notice and a hearing, no one objecting, a decree was entered authorizing a sale of the real estate, and, an investment of the proceeds of the sale in other real estate in the city of Haverhill, to be held upon the same trusts as that to be sold. This decree remains in force, and no sale has been made under it. The plaintiffs have now, by leave of court, filed a supplemental bill, in the nature of a bill of review, setting forth that, since the entry of this decree, a deed of conveyance has been made to them as trustees of the Haverhill City Hospital, covering certain land, and the buildings thereon, situated in Haverhill, to be held for the use of the Haverhill City Hospital, and upon the trust that the buildings thereon shall be used and occupied as the hospital buildings for said City Hospital; that said conveyance was by way of gift; and that the land, with the buildings thereon, are adapted to the purposes of a hospital, and the buildings are now being used by them as hospital buildings, and the land is all that is needed as a site for a hospital. They pray that the suit may be revived, and that the decree may be reviewed and modified, and that they may have leave to sell the land devised by said...