Estate of White

Citations

• 174 Pa. 642
• 34 A. 321
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 942

Syllabus

<p>Will — Gift to charity — Renunciation of legacy.</p> <p>Testator by his will made various charitable bequests and amongst others to three corporations chartered for charitable purposes. He further directed as follows: “ It is my will and I hereby direct, in regard to every one of the legacies bequeathed by my said will and codicils, or which may be bequeathed by any future codicil, or by any writing in my own hand or over my signature according to the Fourth clause of my will as modified by this codicil, or by virtue of any of the provisions in the Second Codicil of my Will, — that if at any future time any of the beneficiaries thereby or their successors ever commit any act or in any manner whatever give any support, aid, sympathy or countenance to what I consider the pernicious fallacy of ‘ prohibition ’ or its bantling, ‘ local option ’ or any other scheme for the total suppression by law of the manufacture, sale or consumption of liquors that will intoxicate when used to excess, or commit any act of proscription against any person of good moral character by reason of being engaged in the manufacture or sale, or owing to the rational and temperate use of such liquors — that then and in such case such legacy shall become forfeit and void as to such beneficiary forthwith, and the trustees or beneficiarles of the same are hereby directed to pay over the sum so bequeathed with the accrued interest thereon to the Trustees of a certain fund for the establishment of a Free Library in the City of Philadelphia according to the Will of George S. Pepper, Esq., lately deceased, or to the Trustees of the said library, if already established, the income'thereof to be applied to the uses of the said institution.” The three corporations by formal vote of their directors renounced the legacies on the ground as stated in their resolutions ‘ ‘ that they could not conscientiously accept a legacy with such a condition annexed thereto.” Held (1) that there was no such indefinitenes