In re Howe
New York Court of Chancery
Nicholas Anderson, the testator, gave to the corporation of St. George’s Church, in New York, a legacy of $4,000, in trust that the same should be put out at interest, or vested in public stocks; and that the income thereof should be paid to his housekeeper for life, and after her death, the income thereof to be applied to-the purchase of a church library, the support of a Sabbath school in the church, and other church purposes to which the church contributions may be…
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Nicholas Anderson, the testator, gave to the corporation of St. George’s Church, in New York, a legacy of $4,000, in trust that the same should be put out at interest, or vested in public stocks; and that the income thereof should be paid to his housekeeper for life, and after her death, the income thereof to be applied to-the purchase of a church library, the support of a Sabbath school in the church, and other church purposes to which the church contributions may be applied, agreeably to the canons of the Episcopal church. The counsel of the executor advised him that the corporation could…
1Opinion of the Court
The Chancellor :—It is a general rule that corporations cannot exercise any powers not given to them by their charters or acts of incorporation; and for that reason they cannot act as trustees in relation to any matters in which the corporation has no interest.[1] But wherever property is devised or granted to a corporation, partly for its own use and partly for the use of others, the power of the corporation to take and hold the property for its own use carries with it, as *a necessary incident, the power to execute that part of the trust which relates to others.
In this case the substantial…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Jackson ex dem. Lynch v. HartwellNew York Supreme Court · 1811
3Cited by18 opinions
- Williams v. . WilliamsNew York Court of Appeals · 1853
- Booth v. Baptist Church of Christ of PoughkeepsieNew York Court of Appeals · 1891
- EXECUTORS OF McDONOGH v. MURDOCHSupreme Court of the United States · 1854
- Robertson v. BullionsNew York Supreme Court · 1850
- Sherwood v. American Bible SocietyNew York Court of Appeals · 1864
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