Opinion ID: 1963790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: IIThe Question Whether Miriam Winslow's 1903 Conveyance Established a Trust or was a Gift of a Fee Simple Determinable

Text: We come, then, to the question whether Miriam Winslow's 1903 gift created a charitable trust or was a conditional gift conveying to the City of Portland a fee simple determinable. Before addressing this question head-on, we consider, to pass beyond, a preliminary question raised by the Rands. Noting that the conditional gift statute, as in effect in 1903, required a municipal election for the acceptance of donations within its terms, the Rands argue that the procedure surrounding acceptance of Miss Winslow's deed was defective because the acceptance was effected merely by vote of the City Council. [15] Whatever the legal impact of the mode of acceptance might be, we find that we need not presently be concerned with it. Whether the City of Portland complied with procedures which, in 1903, constituted lawful consent [16] is a question between the municipality and the State, absent express provision of forfeiture for such failure. [17] Farrington v. Putnam, 90 Me. 405, 37 A. 652 (1897). See also: 69 A.L.R. 1359 and appropriate cases cited therein. We, therefore, reject the attack by the Rands on the validity of the manner of acceptance in the instant circumstances. [18]