Court Opinion

ID: 6895031
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-23 21:48:43.015713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:05:57.291491
License: Public Domain

On petition for rehearing.
StbahAN, J.
Appellants’ counsel have filed a petition for a rehearing in which it is insisted that the land in controversy was granted for educational purposes and for none other. This is conceded; the deed expresses that upon its face; but it is nowhere alleged that it is being used for any other purpose, and if it were being so used it is probable that the heirs of the grantor have such an interest that they might restrain such unauthorized use of the thing granted. But of this they do not complain. It is the non-user for which they demand a forfeiture. The deed does not fix any time when the land granted must be so used, nor.is the estate limited as to the time when its use shall begin. The grantors, when they made the deed, were chargeable with full notice of all the powers and authority of Umatilla County under the statute. Not having annexed any conditions to the grant at the time it was made, the court ought not to undertake to supply them by implication. It is also urged by counsel for appellants, with much apparent confidence, that this trust is void because those who may be its beneficiaries are uncertain or unknown. But this does not belong to that class of trusts where it is necessary they should be known. It is the use to which the property is to be applied and not the persons benefited which the law regards in such case. In other ivords, it is a trust for charitable uses. (2 Perry on Trusts, § 700.) “If in a gift for private benefit, the cestuis que trust are so uncertain that they cannot be identified, or cannot come into court and claim the benefit conferred upon them, the gift will fail, and revert to the donor, his heirs or legal representatives. But if a gift is made for a public charitable purpose, it is immaterial that the trustee is uncertain or incapable of taking, or that the objects of the charity are uncertain or indefinite. Indeed, it is said that vagueness is in some respects essential to a good gift for a public charity, and that a public charity begins where uncertainty in the recip*183ient begins. (2 Perry on Trusts, § 687.) Trusts of tbis character have been generally favored and liberally construed by the courts. Such benefactors will not be defeated or overthrown on slight or trivial grounds.
The petition for a rehearing will be overruled.