McCown v. King

Citations

• 23 S.C. 232
• 1885 S.C. LEXIS 98

Syllabus

<p>1. Deeds and other papers must, under the rules of law, be so construed as to reach the intention of the parties.</p> <p>2. Under a deed to A “to have and to hold to A, his heirs and assigns forever,” followed by the warranty clause, and concluding “in trust nevertheless for the benefit of the heirs of his body, and not subject to any debts now or hereafter to be contracted by him, and at his death to be equally divided between the heirs of his body,” A took no express grant of a beneficial interest in the land, but he was simply a trustee.</p> <p>3. Glauses of a deed may be transposed in order to arrive at the intention of the grantor.</p> <p>4. A gift to the heirs of the body of A without a gift of a prior estate to A, makes these words, “heirs of the body,” to be words of purchase and not of limitation.</p> <p>5. There was in this deed no express gift to A, and if there was any estate at all in A by implication, it was only an estate for his life.</p>