Bender v. Bender

Citations

• 226 Pa. 607
• 75 A. 859
• 1910 Pa. LEXIS 827

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Devise—Construction—Intention.</p> <p>1. In construing a will the rule requires that it be read in the ordinary and grammatical sense of the words employed, unless some obvious absurdity or some repugnance or inconsistency with the declared intention of the testator, as extracted from the whole will, should follow from so reading it. Where this occurs a construction may be adopted avoiding these consequences.</p> <p>2. Words and limitations may be supplied or rejected when warranted by the immediate context or the general scheme of the will, but not merely on a conjectural hypothesis of the testator’s intention however reasonable, in opposition to the plain and obvious sense of the instrument. It is the expressed intention that governs.</p> <p>3. A devise by a father to a son, naming him, “or his children,” is substitutional in character, and the word “or” will not be construed to mean “and” where there is nothing in the general scheme of the will or any single provision thereof which requires such a construction. Under the devise the son takes a fee if he survives the testator. In such a case the Act of April 8, 1833, P. L. 249, which provides against the lapse of a devise to a son cannot be used as an argument against such construction.</p>