Opinion ID: 1320184
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Beneficiary Capable of Taking Title

Text: Holding that the trustees to the 1745 Trust Deed had no duties, we now analyze whether there was a beneficiary capable of taking title. According to the terms of the 1745 Trust Deed, the beneficiaries were the Inhabitants of Waccamaw Neck. This term is ambiguous and parol evidence should be used to ascertain its meaning. See Shelley v. Shelley, 244 S.C. 598, 606, 137 S.E.2d 851, 855 (1964)(holding that parol evidence is admissible so long as its admission is merely intended to explain and apply what the settlor has written). Based on the following application of parol evidence, we hold that the term Inhabitants of Waccamaw Neck was used by the settlors of the trust as an expression referring to the yet-to-be-created All Saints Parish. Early South Carolina colonial statutes used the term inhabitants when referring to the colony's parishes. For instance, The Church Act of 1706 contains multiple uses of the term inhabitants referring to parishes. See Act No. 256 at §§ 7, 10, 12, 13, 19, 21, 22, 29, 30, 35, 2 S.C. Stat. 284-89 (1706). Additionally, this understanding of the term is supported by the historical context in which the 1745 Trust Deed was executed. In 1745, the inhabitants of Waccamaw Neck were parishioners of Prince George's Parish. They were clamoring for the establishment of their own Parish congregation and had already been worshipping on the land at issue for approximately eight years. It was within this historical context that the 1745 Trust Deed was executed in expectation that the subject property would be for the benefit of the yet-to-be formed All Saints Parish. Additionally, according to the express terms of the original Church Act of 1706, a colonial Parish could hold title to land. The Act specifically empowered commissioners to take up by grant from the Lords Proprietors, or purchase the same for them, or any other person, and have, taken and receive so much land as they think necessary for the several sites of the several churches. Act No. 256 at § 8, 2 S.C. Stat. 284. Thus, when the Church Act of 1767 formed All Saints Parish, the Statute of Uses operated to execute the trust created by the 1745 Trust Deed and title vested in the intended beneficiary, the congregation of All Saints Parish.