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176 Mass. 184

Munroe v. Dewey

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1900-05-18

Bill in equity for instructions as to the construction of the will of Eustace C. Fitz. Hearing before Knowlton, J., who, at the request of the parties, reserved the case for the consideration of the full court. The facts appear in the opinion.

Relies on Billings v. Marsh

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1900-05-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 1920

5 state decisions

30190019101920decided

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.

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Holmes, C. J.

¶1This is a bill brought by trustees under a will for instructions whether certain income shall be paid to the legatee or to his trustee in bankruptcy. The income was given to *185the legatee for life, and the will expressly directs that “ no income or principal shall in any case be assignable or alienable by anticipation, or subject to attachment, levy, or seizure by any creditor of the beneficiary, prior to his or her actual receipt thereof.” Even if this clause attempts to go further than the law permits, its validity with regard to an equitable life estate is settled, as against both attaching creditors and assignees in insolvency. Billings v. Marsh, 153 Mass. 311. The trustee in bankruptcy very candidly admits that he does not think that he can distinguish the decisions or make good his claim. We see no ground for a distinction in the words of the Bankrupt Act, § 70. U. S. St. of July 1, 1898, c. 541; 30 U. S. Sts. at Large, 544. Some matters discussed by the defendant Fitz in his unnecessarily elaborate brief are not open.

¶2Decree accordingly.

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