Jee v. Audley

1 Cox 324, 29 Eng. Rep. 1186 (1787)

Facts

Audley's (D) will gave interest on money to his wife during her life, then the principal to Mary Hall and her issue, and if she had no issue, to the daughters (P), then living, of John and Elizabeth Jee. At the testator's death, the Jees were quite old (70 years old) and had four daughters. Mary Hall was unmarried and forty years old. P filed this bill wanting security for their remainder and assurance that their interests were not void under the rule against perpetuities. The interest was not confined to the daughters living at the death of the testator, and consequently, this interest might extend to after-born daughters, in which case it would not be within the limit of life or lives in being and 21 years afterward beyond which time an executory devise is void. The other contention is that the gift should be allowed and the rule not interpreted so rigidly as to defeat an obvious intent of the testator particularly when there is no real possibility of the Jees having children at their advanced age.