CHARITY LOSES BIG SUM

Taranaki Daily News, 20 May 1935, Page 7

CHARITY LOSES BIG SUM

SUPREME COURT DECIDES INDEFINITENESS OF THE WILL. OBJECTIONS FROM RELATIVES. MAJORITY DECISION REACHED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night Judgment was delivered by the Court of Appeal to-day in the case of Campbell and others v. the New Zealand Insurance Company Ltd., and the At-torney-General, heard by the court on March 25 and 26. By judgment of the court a sum of b tween £75,000 and £BO,OOO passes from charitable and benevolent institutions to the next-of-kin of the deceased Catherine Smith, who succeed on intestacy. In a lengthy judgment Sir Michael Myers, Chief Justice, considered the many authorities relating to the question and came to the conclusion that the phrase used by the testatrix was too wide and indefinite and that the gift must be held void for its uncertainty. Mr. Justice Reed took a different view, being of the opinion that the testatrix had made her own dictionary and had sufficiently indicated the objects of her intention. , , Judges Smith and Johnston were of the opinion that the gift must fail as the testatrix had not sufficiently defined the class from which the trustees could select beneficiaries. _ ' The appeal was allowed m accordance with the majority judgment and an order was made that the fund should descend as on intestacy and that the costs of all parties should be taxed and paid out of the estate. . , The estate which has been in dispute is that built up by the late Captain James Smith, Auckland, who had large interests in shipping and coal mining concerns. When his widow, Mrs. Catherine Smith, died in August, 1933, she left estate which was valued for duty at £126,595. Of this £21,300 was disposed of by specific legacies to relatives and charities, and £6,500 was set aside for certain minors. ~ The clause in Mrs. Smiths will which gave rise to the legal dispute directed her trustee, the New Zealand Insurance Company Limited, to apply the residue of the estate, estimated to amount to about £76,000, in making other bequests towards other institutions, societies of objects established at or about Auckland for charitable, benevolent, educational or religious purposes, the trustee to benefit such institutions, societies or objects in such amounts as it in its absolute discretion deemed advisable. Relatives of the testatrix said that this clause did not create a valid legal trust and the trustee sought the direction of the Supreme Court. In a judgment delivered on September 12 last Mr. Justice Herdman decided against the contention that the bequest was invalid on the ground of uncertainty and upheld its validity. It was plain, he said that the testatrix intended to benefit organisations at or about Auckland, and she inintended to benefit established organisations.