GIFT HELD TO BE VALID

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1933, Page 9

GIFT HELD TO BE VALID

TERMS OF WILL DISPUTED. DECISION OF APPEAL COURT. By Telegraph—Press Association Wellington, Oct. 18. A direction in a will that certain moneys should be expended “in the service of my Lord and Master, and/or in relieving at any time any pious person or persons in need whom they (the trustees) may wish to assist,” came before four judges of the Court of Appeal for determination on September 19 in an appeal brought by the Crown against a decision of Mr. Justice MacGregor in the Court below. The case concerned the will of the late Gaius Brewer, settler, Wellington, action being taken in the Supreme Court in June to determine whether the gift of the residue of testator’s estate was a good charitable gift. The Court of Appeal, in its judgment delivered to-day, held that the gift in the will upon trust as “the trustees shall in their absolute and unfettered discretion expend in gifts to be employed in the service of my Lord and Master and/or relieving any pious persons in need” was a good charitable trust, and not void for uncertainty. Tiro trustees are to submit a scheme for distribution to the Court below.

In his Supreme Court judgment Mr. Justice MacGregor said that' the established rule was that ho gift was to be deemed charitable unless the testator had in express terms, or by necessary implication, signified a clear intention to devote the property (obligatorily) to charitable purposes. In his opinion the testator in the case had not expressed such a clear intention in his will, and accordingly the gift was wholly void for uncertainty. He held that the persons entitled to the estate of the testator on the death of his widow were his next-of-kin, as on an intestacy.

It was against this judgment that the Crown, as protector of charities, brought the appeal.