Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

128 Mass. 334

Bates v. Dewson

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided February 13, 1880

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1880-02-13

<p>A testator by his will directed that a house be purchased at a cost not exceeding one thousand dollars, to be held in trust for the benefit of his servant D. during his life, and “ to revert to his family on his decease.” D. died in the lifetime of the testator, leaving a widow, one child, and a stepson who had lived in D.'s family and been supported by him since his marriage. Held, that the question whether the legacy lapsed could not be determined on a bill in equity by the trustees under the will to determine the distribution or disposition of the legacy, without making the residuary devisees parties. Held, also, after they had been made parties, that the bequest did not lapse at D.’s death; that, in the absence of words manifesting a different intention, D.’s “ family ” meant his widow and child, and did not include his stepson; and that the sum of one thousand dollars should be paid to the widow and child in equal shares.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1880-02-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently September 1944

11 state decisions

401880189019001910192019301940decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

The Court

¶1held that the question whether the legacy of $1000 lapsed by the death of Alexander Dewson before the death of the testator could not be decided, because the residuary devisees were not made parties, and

¶2 Discharged the report.

¶3The bill was then amended by making the residuary devisees parties; and they answered, submitting their rights to the judgment of the court. The case was heard upon bill and answers, and reserved by Ames, J., for the determination of the full court; and was argued by the same counsel.

Gray, C. J.

¶4The testator directed a house to be purchased, at a cost not exceeding one thousand dollars, to be held in trust for the benefit of Alexander Dewson during his life, and to be conveyed to his family at his death. The gift in remainder to “ his family ” did not lapse by his death in the lifetime of the testator. “ His family,” in the absence of words manifesting a different intention, must be taken to mean his widow and child; Bowditch v. Andrew, 8 Allen, 339, 342; and not to include his stepson. Ho provision being made as to the proportions in which his widow and child shall take, and the reasons for investing the money in a house having ceased with his life, the sum of one thousand dollars is to be paid to them in equal shares. As to the annuity of one hundred dollars, no question is presented by the bill. Decree accordingly.

/128/mass/334 · .json · Public domain