Gunn v. Brown

Stone, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. In the case of Fairfax vs. Brown & Brown, Trustees, 60 Md., 50 , this Court was called on to construe the will of Dr. Wright. At the time of the institution of that suit, Harriet, one of the daughters of Dr. Wright, had died intestate and without issue, and the question directly presented to the Court for its decision was what estate Harriet took in the property under her father’s will. This Court decided that Harriet took a fee simple, which became vested at the death of her mother, and that the trust having ended at the death of Harriet, the property was to be equally divided between her sister, Mrs. Gunn, and the children of her deceased brother, Reginald.

By that decision the Court virtually determined that Mrs. Gunn took an estate in fee, in the property devised to her by the will of her father, Dr. Wright. But Mrs. Gunn being still alive, no question was raised as to the distribution of her estate, nor was' the question directly presentéd to the Court, when the trust ended on her part of the estate of her father. She has now filed a petition in a Court of equity, claiming that as this Court decided in 60 Md., that she took a fee simple estate, the trusts are at an end, and she has the right, if she so elects, to take the