City of Philadelphia v. Heirs of Girard
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to tbe Common Pleas of Schuylkill county. This was an action of ejectment, brought by the heirs of Stephen Girard against the City of Philadelphia, to recover twenty tracts of coal lands in Schuylkill county, of which the testator died seised.
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ERROR to tbe Common Pleas of Schuylkill county. This was an action of ejectment, brought by the heirs of Stephen Girard against the City of Philadelphia, to recover twenty tracts of coal lands in Schuylkill county, of which the testator died seised. The plaintiffs below claimed as his heirs at law and next of kin — the city as his devisees under his will and the codicils annexed, admitted to probate December 31st 1831. The argument on both sides was directed to the determination of the proper construction of certain clauses in the will. The first eighteen clauses contained bequests to…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered,
by
Loweiw, C. J.
In all gifts for charitable uses the law makes a very clear distinction between those parts of the writing conveying them, which declares the gift and its purposes, and those which direct the mode of its administration. And this distinction is quite inevitable, for it is founded in the nature of things. We must observe this distinction in studying Mr. Girard’s will, otherwise we run the risk of inverting the natural order of things by subordinating principles to form, the purpose to its means, the actual and executed gift for a known…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Perin Ex Rel. Perin v. CareySupreme Court of the United States · 1861
- Methodist Church v. RemingtonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1832
- Morrison v. BeirerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1841
3Cited by83 opinions
- Newlin EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1951
- Estate of LawrencePennsylvania Orphans' Court, Philadelphia County · 1890
- Women's Homoeopathic Hospital of Philadelphia CaseSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1958
- Girard College TrusteeshipSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1958
- Lockhart's EstateSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1932
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