In re the Estate of Forte

Wingate, S.

So far as the diligence of counsel and the independent research of the court have disclosed, the precise question herein presented is novel in the tribunals of this State, although closely related questions have twice been the subject of nisi prius adjudication. Further than this, a precise parallel has appeared only four times in the entire history of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, once in the State of Missouri and thrice in England.

The concrete problem relates to the validity of a condition, attached to a testamentary gift to a child, effecting a defeasance of the benefit in the…