Weir v Crum-Brown
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 06 February 1908 |
| Court | House of Lords |
| Docket Number | No. 2. |
| Date | 06 February 1908 |
Charity - Gift for Relief of indigent Bachelors and Widowers - Uncertainty.
A testator by his trust disposition and settlement directed his trustees to “employ the whole residue of my estate in instituting and carrying on a scheme for the relief of indigent bachelors and widowers of whatever religious denomination or belief they may be who have shown practical sympathy either as amateurs or professionals in the pursuits of science in any of its branches, whose lives have been characterized by sobriety, morality and industry, and who are not less than fifty-five years of age, or of aiding any scheme which now exists or may be instituted by others for that purpose.” The next of kin contended that the bequest was void for uncertainty:—
Held (affirming the decision of the Second Division of the Court of Session), that the bequest was not void for uncertainty, for the trustees, or failing them the Court, would find no difficulty in giving effect to it.
APPEAL from a decision of the Second Division of the Court of Session, Scotland.F1
The appellants Weir and others were the sole next of kin of the testator John Murdock, and the respondents were the testator's trustees.
John Murdock died in Mid Lothian, Scotland, on December 8, 1901, leaving a trust disposition and settlement dated July 17, 1897, by which he bequeathed his whole means and estate to and in favour of P. G. Tait, then professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh (since deceased); Alexander Crum-Brown, professor of chemistry, James Geikie, professor of geology, (both in the said university); and T. Hector Smith, manager of the National Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. The fourth purpose of the testator's settlement was (inter alia) in the following terms: “I direct my trustees to employ the whole residue of my said estate, means, and effects in instituting and carrying on a scheme for the relief of indigent bachelors and widowers of whatever religious denomination or belief they may be, who have shown practical sympathy either as amateurs or professionals in the pursuits of science in any of its branches whose lives have been characterized by sobriety, morality and industry and who are not less than fifty-five years of age, or of aiding any scheme which now exists or may be instituted by others for that purpose; and I confer on my trustees the fullest and most ample powers both in regard to the selection of the persons who are to receive the benefit of the proposed scheme and the mode in which the scheme itself is to be carried out, and without in any way detracting from the powers hereby conferred on my trustees, I suggest that they should, if they deem it expedient, purchase land situated within ten miles of Edinburgh of suitable extent, and erect thereon, furnish and maintain an institution to be known by the name of ‘Murdock's Rest’ where such persons as are before mentioned might end their days in comfort: at the same time I am well satisfied that when such persons have kind and suitable friends willing to receive them, they are better with them than gathered together in numbers; but in the event of my trustees deciding to adopt my suggestion as to an institution, I would recommend that the building to be so erected should be constructed after the cottage system and of a substantial but not expensive character, and I would further recommend that my trustees should provide and pay for the board of each of the inmates in the before mentioned institution at a cost of, if possible not exceeding, thirty-six pounds fifteen shillings per annum: and with reference to the selection of the persons who should benefit under the said scheme in whatever way it may be carried out by my trustees, I would suggest that the first three persons should be either natives of or resident in the county of Edinburgh, and thereafter one person whether a native or resident should be chosen from each county in Scotland in alphabetical order until such requisite number, as my trustees may decide, shall be reached, and on the...
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Wong, Wen-Young v (1) Grand View Private Trust Company Ltd, (2) Transglobe Private Trust Company Ltd
...law: “ut res magis valeat quam pereat.” It certainly applies to charities when the question is one of uncertainty ( Weir v. Crum-Brown [1908] AC 162, 167), and, I think, also where a gift is capable of two constructions one of which would make it void and the other effectual …’: Inland Reve......
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Commissioners of Inland Revenue v McMullen
..." ut res magis valeat quam pereat". 16 It certainly applies to charities when the question is one of uncertainty. (Weir v. Crum-Brown [1908] A.C. 162 [1908] A.C. 162, 167) and, I think, also where a gift is capable of two constructions one of which would make it void and the other effectual......
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