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[214 U.S. 19, 20] This is in effect a controversy between the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, District of Columbia, and the Andrews Institute for Girls, a corporation of the state of Ohio, concerning a will made by Wallace C. Andrews, a resident of the city, county, and state of New York, who died in that city on April 7, 1899. Both Mr. Andrews and his wife perished on that day in a fire in their dwelling house in New York city. Whether husband or wife died first is not known. She was twelve years younger than he. They had no children. The will was executed on November 12, 1891. After some special gifts, which need not be noticed, the will provides:
Mrs. Andrews dying at the same time her husband did, his brother-in- law, Mr. St. John, duly qualified as executor and trustee under the will. Thereafter he commenced this suit in the supreme court of New York county, seeking a con- [214 U.S. 19, 23] struction of the will and a determination of the rights of the Andrews Institute for Girls, the Smithsonian Institution, and the heirs at law and next of kin of the deceased. The Andrews Institute for Girls, the Smithsonian Institution, Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, as Chancellor thereof, the attorney general of the state of New York, and the heirs and next of kin of the deceased, were made parties defendant. At a hearing in a special term of the supreme court of the county of New York it was held that 'the defendant the Andrews Institute for Girls is entitled to the residuary estate of the said Wallace C. Andrews, deceased, together with the income thereof which has accrued since the death of said deceased, after paying the expenses of administration,' and also that the defendant the Smithsonian Institution has no interest in the estate of the said Wallace C. Andrews, deceased. This decision was sustained by the appellate division of the first department, and thereafter, with a slight modification, by the court of appeals of the state, which remitted the record of the supreme court of New York city, where the final judgment was entered. Thereupon that judgment was brought here on a writ of error by the Smithsonian Institution and its chancellor.
The defendants in error filed a motion to dismiss, which was postponed until the final hearing, and the case is now before us on such final hearing and motion to dismiss.
Messrs. Frank W. Hackett and Edmund Wetmore for plaintiffs in error.
[214 U.S. 19, 25] Messrs. James W. Hawes, Virgil P. Kline, Harold Nathan, Henry Wollman, Sheldon H. Tolles, and Henry M. Earle for defendants in error.
Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:
It is difficult to spell out from the record in this case the decision of any question arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Neither in the pleadings nor in the opinions is there a direct reference to any special provision of the Federal Constitution. It is true that, after the decision by the court of appeals, an affidavit was filed by one of the counsel for plaintiffs in error in support of a petition for a rehearing, stating that, in the brief, as well as upon the oral argument in that court, a Federal question (describing it) had been presented and discussed, which petition was denied by the court of appeals in these words:
It is unnecessary to determine whether this of itself is sufficient to give jurisdiction to this court. The language of the court of appeals may be construed as denying that any such matter was brought to its attention as stated in the affidavit, or as holding that it presented no Federal question. Mallett v. North Carolina, 181 U.S. 589 , 45 L. ed. 1015, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 730; Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Elliott, 184 U.S. 530 , 46 L. ed. 673, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 446; Leigh v. Green, 193 U.S. 79 , 48 L. ed. 623, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 390; McKay v. Kalyton, 204 U.S. 458 , 51 L. ed. 566, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 346.
Counsel further contend that there was necessarily involved in the decision of the case the determination of a question arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that hence this court has jurisdiction of this writ of error, even if the question was not formally referred to by counsel [214 U.S. 19, 28] or the state courts. Chapman v. Goodnow (Chapman v. Crane) 123 U.S. 540 - 548, 31 L. ed. 235-238, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 211; Des Moines Nav. & R. Co. v. Iowa Homestead Co. 123 U.S. 552 , 31 L. ed. 202, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 217; McCullough v. Virginia, 172 U.S. 102, 117 , 43 S. L. ed. 382, 387, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 134; Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Elliott, 184 U.S. 530, 534 , 46 S. L. ed. 673, 676, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 446; Rogers v. Alabama, 192 U.S. 226, 230 , 48 S. L. ed. 417, 418, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 257, 258, in which last case it is said:
The question upon which counsel rely arises upon article 4, 1, of the Federal Constitution, which reads:
It is not pretended that any judgment of the state of Ohio was disregarded by the courts of New York, but it is contended that full force and effect was not given to the Constitution of the state of Ohio. This duty is as obligatory as the similar duty in respect to the judicial proceedings of that state. South Ottawa v. Perkins, 94 U.S. 260, 268 , 24 S. L. ed. 154, 157; Chicago & A. R. Co. v. Wiggins Ferry Co. 119 U.S. 615, 622 , 30 S. L. ed. 519, 522, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 398, 401, in which Mr. Chief Justice Waite said:
On the other hand, it is settled that the mere construction by a state court of the statute of another state, without questioning its validity, does not deny to it the full faith and credit demanded by the constitutional provision. Glenn v. Garth, 147 U.S. 360 , 37 L. ed. 203, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 350; Lloyd v. Matthews, 155 U.S. 222 , 39 L. ed. 128, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 70; Banholzer v. New York L. Ins. Co. 178 U.S. 402 , 44 L. ed. 1124, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 972; Johnson v. New York L. Ins. Co. 187 U.S. 491 , 47 L. ed. 273, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 194; Finney v. Guy, 189 U.S. 335 , 47 L. ed. 839, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 558; Allen v. Alleghany Co. 196 U.S. 458 , 49 L. ed. 551, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 311.
In the light of these decisions we pass to consider the particular question presented. Sections 1 and 2 of article 13 of the Ohio Constitution read:
By 3235, vol. 2, Bates's Anno. Stat. (Ohio) 6th ed. p. 1836, it is provided: 'Corporations may be formed in the manner provided in this chapter for any purpose for which individuals may lawfully associate themselves, except for carrying on professional business;' and immediately following this section are those naming the conditions and methods of incorporation. After the death of the testator, and on March 19, 1902, the general assembly of the state of Ohio passed an act (Laws 1902, p. 61), the 1st section of which is as follows:
The 2d section requires that a copy of the will or testament, for the carrying out of the provisions of which the corporation is organized, shall be set forth in the articles of incorporation. Thereafter the Andrews Institute for Girls was incorporated, containing, as required by 2, the will of the testator. Now it is contended by counsel for the plaintiffs in error that this act was a special act, conferring corporate powers, and that therefore it and the incorporation made under it was in conflict with the Constitution of Ohio. It is not suggested that there has been any decision of the courts of Ohio in reference to the validity of the act or subsequent incorporation of the Andrews Institute, but it is insisted that it is so obvious that the act is a special act, conferring corporate powers, inasmuch as the terms of the will of an individual are the basis of the act and the incorporation, that the courts of [214 U.S. 19, 31] New York could not have given force and effect to the prohibitions of the Constitution of Ohio. Nevertheless, whether rightly or wrongly, the New York courts held that there was no violation of the Constitution of Ohio, the court of appeals saying in its opinion:
We do not see that any provision of the Federal Constitution has been violated, and the writ of error is dismissed.
The CHIEF JUSTICE did not hear the arguments and took no part in the decision of this case.
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Citation: 214 U.S. 19
Docket No: No. 613
Decided: May 17, 1909
Court: United States Supreme Court
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