Potter v. Chapin

Citations

• 6 Paige Ch. 639
• 1837 N.Y. LEXIS 300
• 1837 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 93

Syllabus

<p>Where the inhabitants of a village, previous to the act for the organization of school districts, contributed by voluntary donations to a fund for the erection of a school house for the use of the neighborhood, and the school house was subsequently destroyed by the British troops, and congress afterwards passed an act to remunerate those Whose property was thus destroyed ; and previous to the passage of such act the village where such school house had been erected Was incorporated into a school district; Held, that the fund afterwards received under that act belonged to such school district and not to the original contributors to the fund. And the school district having been divided into two districts before the receipt of the money from the United States; Held, also, that the fund belonged to both districts in proportion to the taxable property in each at the time of the division.</p> <p>The court of chancery will sustain a gift or bequest or dedication of personal property to public or charitable uses, if the same is not inconsistent with local law or public policy, and where the object of such gift or dedication is specific and capable of being carried into effect according to the intention of the donor.</p> <p>Whether a devise or gift of real estate for public or charitable uses is valid, where the legal title is not vested in some one capable of taking and holding real estate for the purposes of the charity according to the provisions of the revised statutes ? Qumn.</p> <p>Upon separate appeals by the different defendants, in a suit to settle their rights to a fund in court, costs cannot be awarded between the different appellants, unless they have made each other parties to their respective appeals.</p>