Society of California Pioneers v. McElroy

This is an appeal from a judgment and decree wherein the court, applying the equitable doctrine of cy pres, ordered that a bequest of $25,000 “To the Grand Parlor of Native Sons of the Golden West, for cooperation with The Society of California Pioneers, in erecting a pioneer monument on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco” contained in the will of J ames D. Phelan, deceased, be divided equally between those two organizations, the part allotted to the Society of Pioneers to be used in acquiring “ Californiana, ” and the part allotted to the Grand Parlor to be used in defraying the expense of…