Vansant v. Roberts

Mason, J., delivered the opinion of this court. Cornelius Vansant died in 1841, having first duly executed his last will and testament. The clauses of the will which we are required to interpret, are in these words : “I give and bequeath unto my dear wife, Jane, all my estate, both real and personal, during her natural life, and from and after her decease, do hereby release from slavery, liberate and set free my negroes” (whose names are set out at length) “and their issues forever; provided nevertheless, that the aforesaid negroes are willing to leave the State, according to the act of Assembly in such case made and provided, and to go to Liberia or some other colony in Africa”’ In case the negroes elect to go, provision is made in the will for raising the money necessary to defray their expenses, by requiring the representative of the deceased wife to hire them out until the necessary sum has been raised for that purpose. The will then proceeds: “But if the aforesaid negroes, at the decease of my wife as aforesaid, are not willing to leave the State as aforesaid, then, and in that case, they, the said negroes, are to be hired ¹²⁶ out, as aforesaid, from year to year, and every year, and their wages or hire, clear of good and sufficient board and clothing to be paid over annually, .... according to law, forever, unto the Trustees of the Chartered Fund of the Methodist Episcopal Church, located in Philadelphia, for the sole use and benefit of said church, according to the charter of said fund forever.” Soon after the death of the testator, and before the institution of these proceedings, his widow died also.

The petitioner, who it is conceded is the next of kin and the sole heir of the testator, asks the orphans court to require the administrator of the testator to deliver up to him all the property in his hands, and thus to treat the devise contained in the will, in favor of the corporation designated therein, as void and inoperative. The grounds taken in support of this application aré, first, that the legacy is void, because the corporation is a religious institution, and therefore, under the 34th sec. of our Bill of rights, is incapable of taking the devise; and secondly, because the terms employed to designate this corporation are not those used in the act of incorporation to express the corporate name of the institution. It is conceded, that there is no corporation in existence corresponding in name with the one mentioned in the will, but that there is a corporation styled the “Chartered Fund of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America,” and that it is located in Philadelphia, and that it can be proved by oral testimony, that the testator meant to make the devise to the said last named corporation. Upon the foregoing state of facts, the following submission was entered into by the counsel'for the parties, for the determination of the court, to wit: “If the court be of opinion, that the corporation named in the said charter and supplement thereto is entitled, under said will by the laws of Maryland, and by its charter, to the residuary bequest, and the wages and hire of said negroes, contained and named in said will, then judgment shall be entered for the defendant.

But if the ¹²⁷ court shall be of the opinion, that the said bequest is void, then judgment shall be entered for the petitioner.” In all cases submitted upon an agreed statement of facts like the present, the court are bound to decide upon the facts as presented in the record, and they can make no inferences, unless of law, or such as are undeniable consequences resulting from the facts agreed upon. Hysinger vs. Baltzell, 3 G. & J., 159 . This then being a case stated, w'e are therefore to determine it as therein presented. We are of opinion, that the claim of the petitioner to the negroes is not sustained, and therefore the judgment must be rendered against him.

In the case of Spencer vs. Negro Dennis, 8 Gill, 314 , a case similar to the one before us, it was held, that the negro was entitled to his freedom. Whilst we cannot in this proceeding adjudge the freedom of the negroes in dispute, they not being parties properly before us, we can so far recognise the case of Spencer vs. Dennis as to defeat the claim of the petitioner. The administrator in this suit represents all the parties in interest under the will of the testator, and the rendering of a judgment in his favor in