New York Court of Appeals
In the Matter of Proving the Will of Daniel Cunningham, Deceased. Mary Phillips, Appellants; Louis J. Sloane…
December 10, 1912206 N.Y. 601
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courts' decree that the second paragraph of Daniel Cunningham's will, bequeathing $50,000 to executors to apply at their discretion to charitable and benevolent associations and institutions of learning, is a valid charitable trust enforceable by judicial decree. The court held that the statutory amendments of 1893 save such gifts from invalidity despite any uncertainty in the beneficiaries, because the testator's purpose is sufficiently definite.