Trustees of Unitarian Society v. Tufts
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract for a legacy. Trial in the Superior Court, without a jury, before Staples, J., who reported the case for the determination of this court, in substance as follows. Mary E. Pearson, the widow of William B. Pearson, died on January 2, 1887, leaving a will, which was duly admitted to probate, and of which the defendant was the executor.
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Contract for a legacy. Trial in the Superior Court, without a jury, before Staples, J., who reported the case for the determination of this court, in substance as follows. Mary E. Pearson, the widow of William B. Pearson, died on January 2, 1887, leaving a will, which was duly admitted to probate, and of which the defendant was the executor. The will, which was dated October 21, 1882, after gifts of pecuniary legacies to various nephews and nieces, and of “ my stable ” and of a “ mortgage note which I now hold ” to her brother and sister respectively, contained the following provisions: “…
1Opinion of the CourtHolmes, J.
We must hold the legacy in the fourth clause of the will specific, although we cannot but fear that, if the testatrix had been fully advised of the consequences of making a legacy specific, she would have changed her will.
The legacy is of “ ten shares of the stock of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company.” By the fifth clause of the will, the testatrix gives ten shares to another legatee, and she gives none of it to any one else. At the time of making her will, she owned twenty shares of the stock. We will assume, for the purposes of our decision, that the mere coincidence, between the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Metcalf v. First Parish in FraminghamMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
- Tifft v. . PorterNew York Court of Appeals · 1853
- Johnson v. GossMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
3Cited by34 opinions
- In Re the Accounting of Security Trust Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1917
- In Re the Estate of De BernalCalifornia Supreme Court · 1913
- Gardner v. McNealCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1911
- Thayer v. PauldingMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908
- Cuppett v. NeillyWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1958
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