Wood v. Hartigan, 1347.

• Decision Date: 10 December 1937
• Docket Number: No. 1347.,1347.
• Parties: WOOD et al. v. HARTIGAN, Atty. Gen., et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

195 A. 507

WOOD et al.

v. HARTIGAN, Atty. Gen., et al.

No. 1347.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Dec. 10, 1937.

Certified from Superior Court, Newport County.

Suit by L. Elmer Wood and others, executors under the will of Maria J. Leary, deceased, against John P. Hartigan, Attorney General, and others, for construction of the will and instructions relative thereto. Certified to the Supreme Court by the superior court.

Decree in accordance with opinion.

Sheffield & Harvey and J. Russell Haire, all of Newport, for complainants. Burdick, Corcoran & Peckham and William A. Peckham, all of Newport, for respondents Mabel T. Brown, Betsy Tompkins, Mary H. White, Lestina T. Simmons, and Harold Tompkins. William MacLeod, of Newport, Richard P. Borden, of Fall River, Mass., and Allen Sherman, of New Bedford, Mass., for District Nursing Ass'n of Fall River and New Bedford Children's Aid Soc. Arthur J. Sullivan, of Newport, for Little Compton Village Improvement Soc.

CAPOTOSTO, Justice.

This is a bill in equity asking for a construction of the will of Maria J. Leary, late of the town of Little Compton, and for instructions relative thereto. The cause, being ready for hearing for final decree, was certified to this court pursuant to Gen.Laws 1923, c. 339, § 35. In the bill, which has a prayer for general relief, the executors specifically inquire whether certain bequests to corporations that are out of existence shall be applied cy pres.

The evidence shows that Maria J. Leary died April 3, 1935, leaving a will dated December 8, 1921, with four codicils executed on April 30, 1923, April 2, 1926, September 27, 1928, and August 29, 1929, respectively. The total estate of the testatrix amounted to approximately $225,000. She gave $1,000 each to three designated churches by the seventh clause of her will; $39,000 in varying sums to designated charitable corporations by the eighth clause of her will; and $4,000 for a public library in the town of Little Compton by the fourth codicil. The remainder of the estate she gave to relatives and friends.

The eighth clause of the will, in so far as material, reads as follows: "I give to each of the following institutions, the sums respectively indicated, the principal in each case to be held and safely invested and the income thereof applied to the purposes and use of the legatee: * * * to the Seaside Home of said Fall River, Three Thousand Dollars; * * * to the Women's Reform and Relief Association, of New Bedford, Three Thousand Dollars; * * *." The former was dissolved in 1921 by act of the Massachusetts Legislature, and the latter was dissolved according to the law of that state in 1930. The respondents District Nursing Association of Fall River, the New Bedford Children's Aid Society, and the Little Compton Village Improvement Society, who are engaged in activities similar in part to those formerly carried on by the defunct corporations, claim the bequests in question under either a trust or the doctrine of cy pres. The Attorney General states in his answer that if the allegations of the bill be true, he would contend that the bequests should be applied cy pres, but at the hearing before us he took no position in the matter, by way of either brief or argument. The residuary legatees contend that the bequests have lapsed and, therefore, should be distributed according to the provisions of the residuary clause in the will.

The vital questions in this case are: First, whether the bequests to the legatees under consideration are charitable gifts; second, whether such bequests are absolute or in trust; and, third, in case there is no trust, whether the bequests lapse or should be applied cy pres. The above-quoted eighth clause of the will and the following facts in evidence are material in determining these issues.

The Seaside Home was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts on November 6, 1896, for the purpose of "supplying a summer home and care for such persons, particularly infants, as would be especially benefited thereby," and it actively engaged in carrying out such purpose until 1911. Between 1896 and 1911 it became progressively evident to the management of the Seaside Home that, mainly due to changed methods in dealing with the social conditions in which it was interested, especially in reference to children, the Seaside Home, as it was being conducted, was gradually losing efficiency. In the fall of 1911 a general meeting of all the charitable organizations of Fall River was held, at the invitation and under the auspices of the Seaside Home, for a discussion of their common problems. This meeting resulted in an agreement among the attending organizations to organize the Fall River District Nursing Association. This...