Smith v. Lindsey

Citations

• 37 Pa. Super. 171
• 1908 Pa. Super. LEXIS 258

Syllabus

<p>Deed — Estate tail — Heirs—Children.</p> <p>Although a stricter construction is applied to deeds than to wills, yet in deeds, the intent of the grantor, when legal, is a governing principle in their construction. This applies as well to the words “heirs” or “children” as to any other part of a deed, and they are to be construed as words of limitation or purchase as the intent requires.</p> <p>A deed to a woman, her heirs and assigns, which directs in a clause following the description of the land, that “the above described property shall go to the grantee and to her personal children and to no other,” creates in the grantee an estate tail which by the operation of the Act of April 27, 1855, P. L. 368, is enlarged into an estate in fee simple. The words “her personal children” are to be construed in the sense of “heirs of her body.”</p>