Hayes v. Pratt

Bill in equity by Dundas T. Pratt, executor of George Hayes, deceased, and the Hayes Mechanics' Home, against Henry Hayes, administrator with the will annexed of George Hayes, deceased, for an account of the property of the deceased received by him, and for payment thereof. Judgment for plaintiffs. Defendant appeals. Amended and affirmed.

Statement by Mr. Justice GRAY: This was a bill in equity filed August 11, 1884, in the court of chancery of the state of New Jersey, by Dundas T. Pratt, a citizen of Pennsylvania, describing himself as 'succeeding executor of the last will and testament of George Hayes, late of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, deceased,' and by the Hayes Mechanics' Home, a corporation organized under the laws of Pennsylvania, and established at Philadelphia, against Henry Hayes, a citizen of New Jersey, administrator of George Hayes, for an account of property of the deceased received by him, amounting to more than $5,000, and for payment thereof to either of the plaintiffs, as the court might direct.

The case was duly removed, upon the defendant's petition, into the circuit court of the United States for the district of New Jersey, and was there, after an answer and a general replication had been filed, heard upon pleadings and proofs, by which it appeared to be as follows:

George Hayes was a jeweler, was born in Newark, in the state of New Jersey, in 1815, and there lived until 1847, when he removed to Philadelphia, and became interested in, and identified with, the mechanics of that city, and resided and did business there until June 1, 1857, when he died, leaving a dwelling house and personal estate in Philadelphia, real estate in Michigan, and an interest in real estate in Newark, (on which he had lived and carried on his business before his removal to Philadelphia,) and a will, dated June 16, 1855, duly executed and published according to the laws of Pennsylvania and of New Jersey, by which, after payment of debts and legacies, he provided as follows:

'Item. As to the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, and of every nature and kind whatsoever, I give, devise, and bequeath the same to my executors hereinafter named, their heirs, executors, and administrators forever in trust to realize the same in the manner deemed by them the most advisable, and keep the same invested in such manner as they, in their discretion, may deem most advantageous, and to appropriate and use the income or principal thereof for the purpose of founding and supporting, or uniting in the support of any institution that may be then founded, to furnish a retreat and home for disabled or aged and infirm and deserving American mechanics.

'Item. To better enable my said executors to carry out and perfect my intentions as expressed in the last foregoing item, I authorize and empower them to sell all or any of my real estate, either at public or private sale, either for cash or part cash, and reserving ground rent or taking mortgage for the purchase money, as the case may be, without any liability of the purchaser or purchasers thereof as to the application or misapplication of the purchase or consideration moneys.

'Lastly, I nominate, constitute, and appoint my brother, Jabez W. Hayes, and my friend, Dr. Lewis E. Wells, (and, in the event of the death of either or both of them, then I appoint, first, Dundas Pratt, and, next, my brother-in-law, Horace H. Nichols, to supply vacancy,) to be the executors of this, my will.'

Dundas Pratt, named in the will, was Dundas T. Pratt, one of the original plaintiffs and present appellees. It does not appear that Nichols ever did anything in regard to this trust.

Lewis E. Wells resided in Philadelphia, and proved the will, and was appointed and qualified as executor thereof in the orphans' court of Philadelphia, on June 20, 1857, and, with the knowledge of Jabez W. Hayes, took care of the property in Pennsylvania and in Michigan.

Jabez W. Hayes resided in Newark, and proved the will, and was appointed and qualified as executor thereof in the orphans' court of Essex county, in New Jersey, on August 4, 1857, and, with the knowledge of Wells, took care of the property in New Jersey.

On June 21, 1858, Wells and Pratt, together with Ferdinand J. Dreer, the former partner of the testator, and other citizens of Pennsylvania, were duly incorporated, under the general laws of Pennsylvania, as the Hayes Mechanics' Home, with the object of 'the founding and providing of a retreat and home for disabled, aged, or infirm and deserving American mechanics.' Dreer was president, and Pratt secretary, of the corporation, from the beginning, and Wells was treasurer of the corporation from its organization until 1873, when he was removed, and another treasurer chosen, and Pratt afterwards became treasurer.

On March 16, 1861, the legislature of Pennsylvania, at the instance of Wells, as acting executor, passed an act reciting that the Hayes Mechanics' Home had been incorporated, as aforesaid, 'for the purpose of founding a home for disabled, aged, or infirm and deserving American mechanics, and with the intention of carrying into effect the charitable objects provided for by the last will and testament of George Hayes, deceased, late of the city of Philadelphia,' ratifying and confirming its charter, and empowering it to take and hold the property devised and bequeathed by George Hayes, as aforesaid. Laws Pa. 1861, No. 117, p. 132.

Wells paid all the testator's debts and legacies, and in 1864 settled in the orphans' court of Philadelphia the account of his administration of the property in Pennsylvania, and paid to the Hayes Mechanics' Home the balance of the personal estate in his hands, amounting to $13,789, and also, in obedience to an order of that court, (upon the petition of the corporation, stating that settlement and payment, the provision of the will, the charter of the corporation, and the act of the legislature,) conveyed to that corporation the land in Pennsylvania, valued by an examiner of that court at $12,000, and the land in Michigan, valued at $17,000. The property so received, and the proceeds of sales thereof, were afterwards invested so that, besides paying $10,000 in 1859 for a tract of 16 acres of land as a site for a building, they amounted in May, 1884, (including $11,500 received from other persons,) to $92,000. The building was actually begun a few months after the filing of this bill.

Wells died in 1876, never having done anything about the real estate in New Jersey, aithough he knew of its existence.

There was in the city of Newark an institution called the 'Hopspital of St. Barnabas,' incorporated by an act of the legislature of New Jersey of February 13, 1867, c. 32, which provided that the object of the corporation should be 'the care, nurture, and maintenance of sick, infirm, aged, and indigent persons, and of orphan, half orphan, and destitute children, the providing for their temporal and spiritual welfare, and the procuring or erecting a suitable building or buildings,' and that its members and trus tees should be members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the moral and religious instruction of the inmates should be in conformity with the doctrine, discipline, and worship of that church. N. J. Acts of 1867, p. 51. Its by-laws and rules provided that patients in a condition to be discharged, or whose disease was incurable, should not remain in the hospital, and that all persons able to pay for their maintenance should do so.

Jabez W. Hayes often told his sons that he intended to devote the principal and income of the esstator's property in Newark to the support of this hospital, and in 1870, and again in 1876, obtained the opinion of counsel that under the provisions of the will of George Hayes the executors would be authorized, in their discretion, to provide a permanent bed in this hospital for disabled or aged and infirm and deserving American mechanics. But he took no other steps in that direction, and died in January, 1882, without having rendered any account of his administration.

On December 12, 1882, the orphans' court of the county of Essex and state of New Jersey passed an order reciting the probate of the will of George Hayes in that court, and that 'Jabez W. Hayes, after having taken upon himself the execution of said will in this state, has departed this life, that due notice has been given of this application to Dundas Pratt, the only other surviving executor named in the will, and to all other parties in interest;' and appointing 'Henry Hayes administrator of, all and singular, the goods, chattels, and credits of the said George Hayes, deceased, in the state of New Jersey, left unadministered by Jabez W. Hayes, deceased, who is duly authorized to administer the same agreeably to said will.'

Before this appointment, and after Pratt had received notice of the application therefor, a correspondence took place between him and Henry Hayes, in which Pratt, while acquiescing in the appointment, insisted that the testator's interest in the land in New Jersey (the existence of which had become known to him only since the death of Jabez W. Hayes) should go to the Hayes Mechanics' Home, and Henry Hayes expressed a wish that it should be applied, as his father had hoped, to a bed for mechanics in the hospital at Newark. On June 25, 1883, Henry Hayes, in answer to a letter from Pratt about the sale of this interest of the testator, wrote to him that he would not, of course, make any disposition of the money but a legal one, and that he would not dispose of it in any way without giving Pratt an opportunity to show that the Hayes Mechanics' Home was the only institution entitled to it.

Henry Hayes soon afterwards sold this property, and received money from the sale, and from previous income thereof; and in October, 1884, made an offer to the Hospital of St. Barnabas, which that corporation accepted, to appropriate to its use the greater part of this money, and on January 8, 1884, settled his account in said orphans' court, showing a balance in his hands of $5,153.27, and declined to pay it to Pratt, as executor of George Hayes, or as treasurer of the Hayes Mechanics' Home, and in March, 1884, without any order of court, and without Pratt's knowledge or consent, paid this balance to the Hospital of St. Barnabas, informing it of Pratt's claim, and taking from it a bond of indemnity, secured by a mortgage on real estate; and the board of trustees of that corporation, on March 17, 1884, 'resolved that the Hospital of St. Barnabas consents to receive said fund, and it hereby agrees to use such fund solely for the purpose of furnishing a retreat and home for disabled or aged and infirm and deserving American mechanics, in accordance with the will of the late George Hayes,' and, on July 1, 1885, having meanwhile completed a new hospital building, 'resolved that a suitable part of the building be fitted up with two beds, to be devoted especially to the purposes mentioned by the testator, and that a tablet be placed upon the walls as an indication of these uses, and a memorial of the donor of the fund.' On May 10, 1884, in the orphans' court of Philadelphia, (as appeared by an exemplified copy of the record of the appointment, filed with the bill in this case,) 'Jabez W. Hayes and Lewis E. Wells, two of the executors named in said will, being dead, letters testamentary were duly granted unto Dundas T. Pratt, surviving executor;' and Pratt was duly qualified 'as the succeeding executor of the foregoing last will and testament of George Hayes, deceased.' At that time there was not estate of the testator which had not been duly administered, except so far as the property in New Jersey could be so considered; and Pratt testified that his only object in being appointed was to sue for and recover that property; that he supposed that the Hayes Mechanics' Home could itself pursue that fund, but was advised that he, as executor, should claim it.

The circuit court 'ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the respondent, Henry Hayes, administrator of the estate of George Hayes in the state of New Jersey, pay to the complainant Dundas T. Pratt, treasurer of the Hayes Mechanics' Home, a corporation of the state of Pennsylvania, and for and in behalf of said corporation, the sum of $5,153.27, with interest from January 10, 1884, being the balance in his hands, as administrator aforesaid, on settlement of his account in the orphans' court of Essex county, N. J.' with costs.

A. Q. Keasbey, for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 563-566 intentionally omitted]

John R. Emery, for appellees.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.