|
30 L.Ed. 734
U.S.
Supreme Court
GILMER
v. STONE and others
120
U.S. 586, 7 S.Ct. 689
March
7, 1887
Appeal
from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern
District of Illinois.
West
Headnotes
Religious
Societies k16
332k16
Under
the general corporation law of Illinois, Act April 18, 1872,
Smith-Hurd Stats. c. 32, § 171, which provides, among other
things, for the incorporation of "any church, congregation,
or society formed for the purpose of religious worship,"
and restricts the amount of land that may be held by
"any corporation that may be formed for religious purposes
under this act, or any law of this state for the incorporation
of religious societies," to 10 acres, only corporations
formed for the purpose of religious worship, and not benevolent
or missionary societies are intended to be restricted on
their ownership of real estate.
Wills
k489(6)
409k489(6)
In
case of a bequest of a testator's residuary estate, "to
be equally divided between the Board of Foreign and
the Board of Home Missions," it appearing that several different
religious denominations, including the Presbyterian, have
boards of home and foreign missions, held, that parol
evidence was admissible to show that the testator was an
elder of a Presbyterian Church, whose contributions to home
and foreign missions were always sent to the Presbyterian
boards; that he took especial interest in the work of those
boards and contributed to them, but not to societies of
other denominations; and that this evidence, taken in connection
with the fact that the testator, in other parts of the will,
made other bequests to the Presbyterian Church, and objects
connected with it, showed the Presbyterian Boards of Home
and Foreign Missions to be entitled to receive the bequest.
**689
*587 D. T. Littler, for appellant.
James
McCartney, for appellees.
*588
HARLAN, J.
Robert
Gilmer, late of Irish Grove, Menard county, Illinois, died
December 31, 1883, having made a last will by which he disposed
of his entire estate, consisting of about $4,000 in personal
property, and from three to four hundred acres of land in
that state. The eleventh clause of the will is in these
words: 'I also, after paying all debts and claims against
my estate, bequeath and devise the remainder of my estate
to be equally divided between the Board of Foreign and the
Board of Home Missions.' The object of the present suit
is to obtain a decree declaring that clause to be void,
and directing the estate of the testator, after meeting
the debts and the bequests contained in other clauses, to
be paid to the complainant, the uncle and only heir at law
of the decedent. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America and the Board of
Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America, corporations created under the laws of New York,
severally appeared, were made defendants, and filed answers,
each claiming the right to share in the devise in the eleventh
clause of the will. The executors admit the justice of these
claims, but ask the direction of the court in the premises.
To these answers a general replication was filed; and, the
cause having been heard upon the pleadings and proofs, the
bill was dismissed, with costs.
It
is agreed in the case that the Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal,
and other churches, like the Presbyterian Church in the
United States of America, have boards of home and foreign
missions; consequently it is contended the eleventh clause
of the will is void for uncertainty as to the donee and
the purposes of the gift. In this view we do not concur.
It is undoubtedly the rule, in respect to the testamentary
disposition of property, real and personal, that uncertainty
either as to the subject or object of a devise will be fatal
to its validity. But that rule has *589 no application
here; for, it there were no other fact in the case than
that there are numerous boards which may be generally described
by the words the 'board of foreign missions,' and 'the board
of home **690 missions,' the devise in the eleventh
clause would not fail. With respect to charities, gifts
may be good which, with respect to individuals, would be
void; 'and, where there are two charities of the same name,
the legacy will be divided between them, if it cannot be
ascertained which was the intended object.' 1 Jarm. Wills,
376. Can it be ascertained by competent evidence which of
these various boards were the objects of the testator's
bounty?
In
the fourth clause of the will the testator bequeathed his
library to the Presbyterian Church of Irish Grove; in the
ninth, $500 towards the erection of a Presbyterian church
in Greenview, Illinois, provided the same was built within
two years from the date of the will, otherwise the money
should revert to his estate; and in the tenth he bequeathed
$50 to be paid on the minister's salary of the Presbyterian
Church of Irish Grove for the year 1884. And there was extrinsic
evidence to the following effect: That the testator had
been for many years a member and ruling elder of the Irish
Grove Presbyterian Church, one of the local congregations
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America;
that collections were annually taken up in that congregation
for the various boards of that church, including its Boards
of Foreign and Home Missions; that while it was announced
from the pulpit that collections would be taken for the
Board of Foreign Missions or the Board of Home Missions,
without, in words, naming the Presbyterian Church, all such
collections, with the knowledge and assent of the church
session, of which the testator was an active and zealous
member, were, without esception, sent to the officers of
the Presbyterian Boards of Foreign and Home Missions in
New York city, and regular reports thereof made to the session;
that the testator took especial interest in the work of
those particular boards, and uniformly contributed thereto;
and that he did not, so far as his pastor or associates
in the church session knew, make contributions to the societies
of any other *590 church, except to the Bible Society,
which was sustained by several religious organizations.
Of
the competency of this evidence there can be no doubt. The
purpose of it was to place the court, as far as possible,
in the situation in which the testator stood, and thus bring
the words employed by him into contact with the circumstances
attending the execution of the will. Such proof does not
contradict the terms of that instrument, nor tend to wrest
the words of the testator from their natural operation.
It serves only to identify the institutions described by
him as 'the Board of Foreign and the Board of Home Missions;'
and thus the court is enabled to avail itself of the light
which the circumstances in which the testator was placed
at the time he made the will would throw upon his intention.
'The law is not so unreasonable,' says Mr. Wigram, 'as to
deny to the reader of an instrument the same light which
the writer enjoyed.' Wig. Wills, (2d Amer. Ed.) 161. The
proof made a case of latent ambiguity. Such an ambiguity
may arise 'either when it names a person as the object of
a gift, or a thing as the subject of it, and there are two
persons or things that answer such name or description;
or, secondly, it may arise when the will contains a misdescription
of the object or subject.' Patch v. White,
117 U. S. 217, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 617, 710. In the same case
it was observed that, 'as a latent ambiguity is only disclosed
by extrinsic evidence, it may be removed by extrinsic evidence.'
See, also, Allen's Ex'rs v. Allen, 18 How.
385, 393; Hinckley v. Thatcher, 139 Mass.
477, 1 N. E. Rep. 840; Breckinridge v. Dugcan,
2 A. K. Marsh. 51; Morgan v. Burrows, 45 Wis.
217; Brewster v. McCall, 15 Conn. 274;
Tilton v. Society, 60 N. H. 382; 1 Jarm. Wills,
423, 431; 1 Greenl. Ev. § 290.
Construing,
then, the will with reference to the extrinsic evidence
of the uniform relations of the testator to the subject
of Foreign and Home Missions, and to certain societies engaged
in that kind of work, it is not to be doubted that, in the
eleventh clause, he had in mind the Boards of Foreign and
Home Missions *591 of the general religious society
or organization of which **691 he was a member and
officer. The words of the will very well apply to such an
object, and therefore, in so interpreting its provisions,
no violence is done to the language employed by the testator.
It
is also contended that the Boards of Foreign and Home Missions
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
are foreign religious societies or foreign societies organized
for religious purposes, and, as such, cannot, under the
laws of Illinois, take exceeding 10 acres of land each,
and that the devise in the eleventh clause, being of more
than 300 acres of land jointly, is void and must fail.
In
the case of Christian Union v. Yount, 101
U. S. 360, decided in 1879, we considered the question whether
a conveyance, made in 1870, by a citizen of Illinois, of
real estate there situated, of the value of $10,000, to
the American and Foreign Christian Union, a New York corporation,
was void under the laws of Illinois; the object of that
corporation being, 'by missions, colportage, the press,
and other appropriate agencies, to diffuse and promote the
principles of religious liberty and a pure evangelical Christianity,
both at home and abroad, wherever a corrupt Christianity
exists.' The validity of the conveyance was sustained upon
the ground that the law of Illinois, as it existed in 1870,
did not preclude a benevolent or missionary corporation
of another state, being thereunto authorized by its own
charter, from taking title to real estate within her limits,
by purchase, gift, devise, or in any other manner.
It
is, however, insisted that the force of that decision is
weakened, if not destroyed, by the failure of the court
to refer to section 44 of chapter 25 of the Revised Statutes
of 1845, making it lawful for 'the members of any society
or congregation,' theretofore formed or thereafter to be
formed, 'for purposes of religious worship,' to 'receive,
by gift, devise, or purchase, a quantity of land not exceeding
ten acres, and to erect or build thereon such houses and
buildings as they may deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid,
and to make such other use of the land, and make such other
improvements thereon, as *592 may be deemed necessary
for the comfort and convenience of such society or congregation.'
Rev. St. 1845, p. 120. Counsel overlook the fact that the
court, in Christian Union v. Yount, referred
incidentally, and as indicating the general course of legislation
in Illinois, to the like provision in the act of 1872. No
comment was made upon that provision, for the reason that
it had no application to the case; there being no claim,
as there could not well have been, that the American and
Foreign Christian Union was, within the meaning of the statute,
a society or congregation 'for purposes of religious worship.'
In
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Congregation v. Germain,
104 Ill. 440, the supreme court of the state held that the
foregoing section of the act of 1845 was not repealed by
the act of March 8, 1869, providing 'for the holding of
Roman Catholic churches, cemeteries, and other property,'
but was displaced by the forty-second section of the act
of April 18, 1872, (chapter 32 of the Revision of 1874,)
which last section, however, the court said, was substantially
the same as the forty-fourth section of the act of 1845,
and to be regarded as, in effect, merely continuing the
latter in force.
We
have therefore to inquire whether the devise in question
is void under the act of April 18, 1872. That act makes
provision for the formation of corporations for any lawful
purpose, except banking, insurance, real-estate brokerage,
the business of loaning money, and the operation of railroads
other than horse and dummy railroads. It also makes provision
for the incorporation of societies, corporations, and associations
for any lawful purpose, not for pecuniary profit, 'capable
of taking, purchasing, holding, and disposing of real and
personal estate for purposes of their organization.' Sections
29, 31.
The
act proceeds:
**692
'Sec. 35. The foregoing provisions shall not apply to any
religious corporation; but any church, congregation, or
society formed for the purpose of religious worship may
become incorporated in the manner following, to- wit: *
* *'
'Sec.
41. Upon the incorporation of any congregation, church,
or society, all real and personal property held by any
*593 person or trustees for the use of the members thereof
shall immediately vest in such corporation, and be subject
to its control, and may be used, mortgaged, sold, and conveyed
the same as if it had been conveyed to such corporation
by deed; but no such conveyance or mortgage shall be made
so as to affect or destroy the intent or effect of any grant,
devise, or donation that may be made to such person or trustee
for the use of such congregation, church, or society.
'Sec.
42. Any corporation that may be formed for religious purposes
under this act, or under any law of this state, for the
incorporation of religious societies, may receive, by gift,
devise, or purchase, land not exceeding in quantity (including
that already held by such corporation) ten acres, and may
erect or build thereon such houses, buildings, or other
improvements as it may deem necessary for the convenience
and comfort of such congregation, church, or society, and
may lay out and maintain thereon a burying ground; but no
such property shall be used except in the manner expressed
in the gift, grant, or devise, or, if no use or trust is
so expressed, except for the benefit of the congregation,
church, or society for which it was intended.'
The
forty-fifth section permits any congregation, church, or
society incorporated under the act to receive, by grant,
devise, or bequest, real estate, not exceeding 40 acres,
for the purpose of holding camp-meetings. Rev. St. 1874,
pp. 292, 293.
Assuming,
for the purposes of this case only, that a church, congregation,
or society formed under the laws of another state, for purposes
of religious worship in that state, could not lawfully receive,
by gift, devise, or purchase, land, in Illinois, in excess
of the quantity which may be received in either of those
modes by a similar corporation formed under the laws of
Illinois, we are satisfied that the sections last quoted
from the act of 1872 do not embrace corporations of the
class to which these Boards of Foreign and Home Missions
belong. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America was formed 'for the
purpose of establishing and conducting Christian missions
among the unevangelized or pagan nations, and the general
diffusion *594 of Christianity.' Its power to hold
real or personal estate in New York is restricted to such
quantity as will produce an annual income not exceeding
$20,000. The object of the Board of Home Missions of that
church is 'to assist in sustaining the preaching of the
gospel in feeble churches and congregations in connection
with the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and generally
to superintend the whole of home missions in the behalf
of such church, as the general assembly shall from time
to time direct; and also to receive, take charge of, and
disburse all property and funds which, at any time, and
from time to time, may be intrusted to said church or said
board for home missionary purposes.' It cannot take and
hold real or personal property, the annual income of which
shall exceed $200,000.
While
these boards are important agencies in aid of the general
religious work of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America, neither of them is, in any proper sense,
or in the meaning of the thirty-fifth section of the act
of 1872, a church, congregation, or society formed for the
purpose of religious worship. The counsel for the
plaintiff in error seem to lay stress upon the more general
words, 'formed for religious purposes,' in the forty-second
section of the act; but manifestly the other parts of the
same section and previous sections show that the only corporations
intended to be restricted in the ownership of land to ten
acres were those formed for the purpose of 'religious worship,'
and not to organizations commonly called benevolent or
**693 missionary societies. The reasons of public policy
which restrict societies formed for the purpose of religious
worship in their ownership of real estate do not apply at
all, or, if at all, only with diminished force, to corporations
which have no ecclesiastical control of those engaged in
religious worship, and cannot prescribe the forms of such
worship, nor subject to ecclesiastical discipline those
who fail to conform to the rules, usages, or orders of the
religious society of which they are members.
This
conclusion does not, in the slightest degree, conflict with
the decision in St. Peter's Roman Catholic Congregation
v. Germain. That was the case of a conveyance of
about 80 *595 acres of land directly to a congregation
or society 'formed for the purpose of religious worship,'
as distinguished from a benevolent or missionary organization.
The court held that, under the legislation of Illinois,
'a religious corporation is authorized to receive or acquire
lands to the extent of ten acres, and no more. Any amount
in excess of that is expressly forbidden by statute, and
it follows that all conveyances, deeds, or other contracts
made in violation of this prohibition, are absolutely void.'
As
the eleventh clause was intended to pass, and was valid
for the purpose of passing, to the Boards of Foreign and
Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America the estate thereby devised, the decree must be
affirmed. It is so ordered.
Reprinted from Westlaw with permission of Thomson/West. If you wish to check the currency of this case, you may do so using KeyCite on Westlaw by visiting http://www.westlaw.com/.
|
