In re the Trust Estate of Cook

The Chancellor :

The exceptions challenge the propriety of certain investments made by the trustee under the will of William H. Cook, deceased. The will did not confer upon the trustee any special liberty of judgment in the management of the trust estate.

Whether a trustee has exercised the degree of care exacted of him by the duties of his office in the matter of investments and their retention, is a question which is to be answered in the light of contemporaneous circumstances, and not in the light of subsequent events. Taft v. Smith, 186 Mass. 31, 70 N. E. 1031; Brown v. French, 125 Mass.…