Biscoe v. Thweatt
Supreme Court of Arkansas
Appeal from Phillips Chancery Court. STATEMENT BY the COURT. , This suit involves the construction of the will of Mrs. Laura E. B. O’Connor, in so far as the sixth and seventh clauses are concerned, which are as follows: “Sixth.
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Appeal from Phillips Chancery Court. STATEMENT BY the COURT. , This suit involves the construction of the will of Mrs. Laura E. B. O’Connor, in so far as the sixth and seventh clauses are concerned, which are as follows: “Sixth. I bequeath all that part of block seventeen (17), in that part of the city of Helena, Ark., known as “New Helena,” which I die seized of, together with the streets adjoining the same and which I own, to my beloved son, Thomas L. Biscoe, for his natural life, and after his death to the vestrymen of St. John’s Episcopal Church, of Helena, Ark., and their successors in…
1Opinion of the Court
Hilu, C. J.,
(after stating the facts.) The devise to the vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church of Helena, Ark., is attacked on these grounds: (a) The church is an unincorporated religious body, incapable of holding the trust; (b) the trust is too indefinite for fulfillment, and the discretion of the trustees is substituted for the design of the testator; (c) the devise offends against the rule against perpetuities; and (d)■ the seventh clause fails, because the devise over to the church is conditional on an indefinite failure of issue in the first taker, rendering it void.
1. The first three…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Jones v. HabershamSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- Russell v. AllenSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- Moody v. WalkerSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1840
- Grissom v. HillSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1856
3Cited by16 opinions
- Fordyce v. Woman's Christian National Library Ass'nSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1906
- McDonald v. ShawSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1906
- Eureka Stone Co. v. First Christian ChurchSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1908
- Jones v. ClintonDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas · 1994
- Tjosvold v. ByglandNebraska Supreme Court · 1908
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