Hewlett v. Home for Incurables

Bryan, J., delivered the opiuio.n of the Court. . A special case was stated in the Circuit Court, No. 2, of Baltimore City. The facts, so far as they are material to the present purpose, are as follows: .James W. Hewlett insured his life for the sum of twenty-seven hundred and four dollars, payable at his death to J. W. Guest, as trustee for Mary A. Hewlett, Sarah E. Hewlett and Alice Hewlett, daughters of the insured. James W. Hewlett died in 1889, and the amount of the insurance money was duly paid to Guest, the trustee.

The question presented by the special case relates only to the one-third of this sum apportioned to Mary A. Hewlett. She was admitted into a hospital known as “The Home for Incurables,” on the twenty-third day of July, 1887, as an inmate for life, and she was there maintained and supported until her death, which occurred on the second day of December, 1887. The hospital belongs to a corporation by the name of “The Home for Incurables of Baltimore City,” which is chartered for the care and treatment of patients whose diseases are regarded as beyond cure, and for none others'. The objects of the corporation are purely benevolent and disinterested. ³⁵³ Patients are ordinarily required to pay one hundred dollars on admission to'the Home, althoug’h in extreme cases they may be admitted on lower terms.

After admission they receive support and medical attendance without charge, and are entitled to remain during the whole period of their lives, provided they comply with the rules of the Home. The sixth rule of the institution is in the following wokIs: “Every patient possessed of funds when entering the Home will place such moneys or investments with the treasurer; the interest of such sum shall be used for the benefit of the patient, and at death the principal shall revert to the Home.” Miss Hewlett paid to the corporation one hundred dollars, and executed and delivered to it a certain instrument of writing at the date of her admission to the Home; and in consideration thereof the corporation agreed to provide maintenance and support for her in the hospital during her life. The writing is in these words: “In consideration of being admitted into ‘The Home for Incurables of Baltimore City,’ I, the undersigned, do hereby assign, transfer, set over, and forever relinquish to the said ‘The Home for Incurables of Baltimore City,' for the use of the said corporation, all moneys, rights, credits, goods, chattels, and eifects now belonging to me, or to which I am in any way entitled; and I do further agree with and promise the said corporation, that if I shall hereafter receive or become entitled to any money or other property of any kind, real or personal, I will immediately give information thereof to the managers