Golding v. Gaither

Burke, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. By the authority of a decree of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County passed on the 11th day of June, 1907, the appellees offered for sale at public auction the property mentioned' in these proceedings. Failing to obtain at the sale an adequate bid they withdrew the property, and on the 28th of May, 1909, they sold the same at private sale to Charles S. Golding for the sum of twelve thousand dollars, subject to the ratification of the Court. The trustees reported the sale, and 'filed with their report the contract between themselves and the purchaser.

This appeal is taken by the purchaser from the order of the lower Court overrub ing exceptions filed by him and finally ratifying the sale. His objections to the sale were based' upon two grounds: first, that the title to the property sold to him is vested in the Govanstown Academy, a body corporate; secondly, that the bill of complaint contained an improper description of the land and an improper reference to the same. ¹⁸⁹ This latter objection is based upon the fact that in the description of the land given in the bill one of the courses, by mistake, was omitted; but this error was subsequently corrected under an order of Court obtained for that purpose, and, therefore, that gTound of objection has been obviated and need not be considered. Are the trustees able to convey to the appellant a g’ood and marketable title to the property mentioned in the report of sale? This is the only question in the case, and its determination depends upon the construction and legal effect of certain deeds appearing in the record.

The facts are undisputed, and the only ones that need be stated are these: On April 20, 1829, Mahlon Melnor conveyed the land and premises mentioned in these proceedings to Henry MeElderry, and on the 16th of Ootcber, 1832, Henry MeElderry and wife granted and conveyed the land and premises to John W. Ward, Benjamin P. Moore, William G. Howard and Edward Eendall as j oint tenants. Prior to September 4th, 1837, Edward Eend'all, one of the grantees died; but the surviving joint tenants and grantees on that date conveyed the property to the Govanstown Academy, a corporation created by an Act of the General Assembly of Maryland. In this deed appears the following recitals: “Whereas a certain Henry MeElderry and Sarah, his wife, by indenture bearing date the 16th of October, 1832, and recorded among the Land Records of Baltimore County, in Liber A. I. No. 221, folio 416, etc., conveyed to the said John W. Ward, Benjamin P. Moore, William G. Howard, and a certain Edward Eendall, since deceased, as joint tenants, the piece or parcel of land herein described; and whereas the said conveyance was designed and intended, though not so expressed in said indenture, for the benefit of an academy which it was then intended to have erected and conducted on said piece or parcel of ground; and whereas by the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at the December session of the year 1832, Chapter 229, entitled “An Act for incorporating the Govanstown Academy in Bal ¹⁹⁰ timare. County,” the said academy, io benefit which the said conveyance luas executed was established by the name of the Govanstown Academy.” This academy was erected and conducted upon the property for a number of years.

Exactly when it was opened or when it finally closed the testimony does not show; but it is shown by the evidence of all the witnesses that between 1867 and 1870 the academy and grounds were absolutely abandoned as a school, and that the school has never since been in existence, or the property occupied or claimed by the corporation. Upon the abandonment of the property by the Govanstown Academy, Henry McElderry, the original grantor, took possession of the land and premises. In 1870 he enclosed the property by fences, converted the building formerly used as the academy into a carriage house and hay loft, and occupied the property as his residence until his death in 1877. After his death, his