Hanson v. Little Sisters of the Poor

Fowler, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The two questions presented by this appeal arise on a bill filed for the construction of the third clause of the will of the late Thomas H. Hanson, of Baltimore City. Under this clause certain warehouse property was devised to Wilton Snowden in trust, to hold the same and collect the rents and income, and after paying all taxes, &c., to divide the net income thereof equally between “ The Little Sisters of the Poor,” “ The Vestry of Saint Mary’s Church,” Hampden, Baltimore County, and three other corporations not necessary now to mention. The trustee was authorized to sell the property so devised at any time within two years from the death of the testator, and to divide the net proceeds of such sale equally between the five corporations ⁴³⁶ just referred to.

In. a subsequent part of the clause under consideration, the testator declared that it was his express desire that the money so received by “ The Vestry of St. Mary’s Church ” from the sale of said property, should be applied by it to the maintenance of the parish school connected with said church. After paying the income to the appellants for more than a year without objection, the trustee, in the exercise of the power given by the will, sold the property for $13,500. This sale has been finally ratified by the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, and an account has been stated distributing the net proceeds of the sale in accordance with the provisions of the will. The widow and heirs at law of the testator have excepted to this account because of the sums of money allowed respectively to “ The Little Sisters ” and “ The Vestry.” As to the former, the exceptions are based on the ground that that corporation already has an estate which it has acquired by purchase, gift or devise, amounting on the whole, to $50,000, the amount limited by its charter, and that therefore, it is incapable of tailing any more.

And as to the Vestry, the contention is that the devise or bequest to it is void for indefiniteness and uncertainty. Thei Court below overruled these exceptions and ratified the account, and from this action this appeal was taken by the ex-ceptants. In view of the worthy objects of the testator’s bounty, it is fortunate that no settled rule or principle of law will prevent us from giving full effect to the testator’s benevolent intention to aid these two corporations. What we have said in Eutaw Place Baptist Church vs. Shiveley, et al., 67 Md., 494 , and in Halsey, et al. vs. The Convention of the Prot.

Epis’l Church, et al., 75 Md. 275 ,would seem to be conclusive as to the validity of the bequest to the Vestry. Indeed the case first cited would appear to be identical with this. There, the testator bequeathed! to the Eutaw Place Baptist Church a sum ⁴³⁷ of money, the income to be applied to the support of the Sunday School attached to the said church, and it was urged in that case, as here, that the bequest to the church was “ in trust for an indefinite and uncertain body of individuals that fluctuates from time to time without legal succession,” and that therefore the bequest was void because of this uncertainty, and want of legal identification of the objects to be benefited by the bequest. In meeting this contention this Court said, Alvey, former Chief Judge, delivering the opinion: “If the bequest had simply been made to the Church, without reference to the Sunday School, there could have been no question of its validity, and the church could have applied the fund to any purpose and to promote any object within the sphere of its corporate powers and functions, as a religious body.” The principle, so well settled in this State “that a bequest to trustees for the benefit of a vague and indefinite object is equally as invalid as an immediate bequest to such object,” was held to have no application whatever to the bequest to the Baptist Church.

There, the bequest was to the church, to be applied to the Sunday School attached to the church, and although the school was held to be an unincorporated body, it was “ shown to be an integral part of the church organization, and therefore embraced within the scope of the corporate functions and work of the church” In the case before us the testator directed the money to be paid to The Vestry of St. Mary’s Church, and he expressed the desire that it should be applied to the maintenance of its parish school. 'It is shown by the general canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as well as by the testimony of the Bight Beverend William Paret, Bishop of that Church in this State, that the parochial school, wherever it exists, is, like the Sunday School, under the management of the Sector of the parish, and an integral part of the church organization. These parochial schools, as appears by the Bishop’s testimony, are as old as the ⁴³⁸ Church, itself in this country; “ they were in the Church before the war of the Revolution, when the Church here stood as part of the British Church.” It is obvious, therefore, there can be no foundation in fact for the contention that the testator directed the Yestry to execute a trust not germane to the object for which it was incorporated. It might as well be contended that because the corporation known as The Yestry of St. Mary’s Church wasi not expressly authorized by its charter, as in fact it is not so authorized, to maintain a Sunday School, such school is not germane to the powers of the Church corporation. But in addition to this view it will be observed that the charter of the Yes-try provides that “ the duties and powers of said Yestry,” which of course includes the Rector of the church, “as to all matters properly belonging to a vestry shall be as prescribed by the various clauses of the Act of 1798, ch. 28, known as “The Yestry Act,” and it is conceded by the appellants that a corporation formed under that Act has power to maintain parish schools.

In the other case we have cited, Halsey’s Case, where the devise was “ to the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Maryland to be held as a place for a Church school for