Parkhurst v. Harrower

Citations

• 142 Pa. 432
• 21 A. 826
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 754

Syllabus

<p>(a) A testator devised land to Benjamin “ during the period of his natural life, remainder thereof to his issue, if there be any at the time of his decease, in fee-simple, the issue of any deceased child of the said Benjamin to take the same share and estate as the parent would have been entitled to if living at the death of said Benjamin.”</p> <p>(b) “But on failure of issue of said Benjamin, or of his deceased child or children, at the time of his death, then I direct that the said real estate, above devised to said Benjamin for life, shall at the time of his decease go to and vest in the then heirs at law of me, the said testator, in fee-simple, ” in shares as under the intestate law:</p> <p>1. By the word “issue” the testator did not mean “heirs of the body,” as a word of limitation, but, instead thereof, the children and grandchildren of his sqn Benjamin. A definite, not an indefinite failure of issue was intended; and therefore, the devise to Benjamin was but a life-estate, not a fee-tail enlarged by the act of April 27, 1855, P. L. 368, to a fee-simple.</p>