Mulliken v. Earnshaw
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Appeal, No. 60, Jan. T., 1904, by-plaintiff, from judgment of C. P. No. 4, Phila. Co., Sept. T., 1903, No. 579, for defendant on case stated, in suit of Mary A. Mulliken v. John R. Earnshaw. Case stated to determine marketable title to real estate passing under the will of Charles P. Mulliken, deceased. From the case stated it appeared that the premises in question were 3649 and 8651 Smedley street in the city of Philadelphia.
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Appeal, No. 60, Jan. T., 1904, by-plaintiff, from judgment of C. P. No. 4, Phila. Co., Sept. T., 1903, No. 579, for defendant on case stated, in suit of Mary A. Mulliken v. John R. Earnshaw. Case stated to determine marketable title to real estate passing under the will of Charles P. Mulliken, deceased. From the case stated it appeared that the premises in question were 3649 and 8651 Smedley street in the city of Philadelphia. The material portion of the case stated was as follows : That in and by said last will and testament the said testator devised as follows : “ I give and bequeath all my…
1Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Mb. Chief Justice Mitchell,
The want of harmony in the cases dealing with the period to which the words “ then living ” or similar phrases, in a will, should be applied, arises- mainly from the artificial canon of construction that the period intended is presumed to be the death of the testator. The. canon itself grew out of the preference in the policy of the law, in all doubtful cases, for vested rather than contingent interests. Like all artificial rules it had the constant tendency to become an arbitrary fetter instead of a mere instrument .for the ascertainment of the testator’s…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Fox's AppealSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1882
- Raleigh's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1903
- Appeal of CraigeSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1889
- Reilly's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1901
3Cited by33 opinions
- Newlin EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1951
- Packer's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1914
- Rosengarten v. AshtonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1910
- Walker EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1954
- March EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1947
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