Joseph Story

“ But the seizure of the property of an individual, merely to sell it to another to raise money for any purpose, can hardly be supposed to be authorised by any principles of a free government, and is in manifest opposition to the spirit of the amendment of the constitution. ”

“ The contract is one entire contract; and being executed in part, must be executed throughout. Being an executory trust, it must be executed according to the intention of the parties, whether made for a valuable consideration or not. Marriage is a valuable consideration, and is one class of the cases in which this principle is most commonly applied.
Suppose a chancery court now called on by the United States to compel the trustees to execute the legal conveyances, what would be the conditions and covenants? Would not the squares be made to revert to the grantor when the uses ceased? ”

“ But suppose that the money which was produced by the sales of the lots and was paid for the reservations, is to be considered as a gift of money by the original proprietors; is not money so given as absolutely the property of the United States as if it had been raised by a tax? ”

“ Mr Taney, for the appellants, in reply, contended; that whatever rights congress or the government had in the property within the city of Washington, depended on the contract with the original proprietors, and not on their rights of sovereignty. The act of Maryland of 1791 is the act which was accepted by congress; and all the rights of sovereignty which can be exercised are derived from that act. They cannot be greater than those which were possessed by the former sovereign who granted them. ”

“ A subsequent act, passed on the 3d of March 1791, authorised some alterations of the limits of the district. Suitable cessions of the jurisdiction and soil of the territory, subject to the private rights of property of the inhabitants, were made by the states of Maryland and Virginia (a) . And the former act further provided for the removal of the seat of government to the district on the first Monday of December 1800. The limits of the district were accordingly ascertained and defined; as made known by the proclamations of the president of the 24th of January and the 30th of March 1791. ”

“ They are exercising a power as cestuis que trust over a trust fund; and the extent of their right in the fund they have submitted to judicial decision. And although the words in the deed of Mr Burns might, in a conveyance of the legal estate under the statute, be held to pass the absolute and unqualified use in the squares; yet in the interpretation of a trust the court will look to the real intention of the parties, and are not bound by the strict legal meaning of any particular words used in the instrument.
The United States have no rights except by transfer from individuals. ”

“ The act of 1791, sect. 2, passed by Maryland, limits the power of congress, and declares that the cession shall give them no other right in the land than may be transferred by the individuals. All the rights therefore which the United States had or have in the soil in the district must have been acquired by contract. They can acquire none by the exercise of sovereign power; for they have surrendered that portion of sovereignty in this district, by accepting it upon the terms stated. ”

“ Nor is there any trust, express or implied, raised on the face of the contract, in behalf of the original proprietors, nor any use for them; the whole trust and use being for the benefit of the United States. ”

“ The president and the commissioners are by the act of congress invested with special powers, which they cannot transcend; and it appears that either the estate conveyed must be strictly in accordance with those powers, or that the instruments of conveyance are void. ”

“ No human foresight could take in the great variety of events which might render great changes in the plan, form, and locations of the city indispensable for the health, the comfort, and the prosperity of the city. ”

“ Thus, cases are cited of charities, which are free gifts of property, dedicated on the face of the instrument itself, which made the gift to a special use,-free gifts, in which the donor had been induced to make them by no pecuniary interest, but which proceeded solely from his disinterested bounty and charity.
But these reservations were not free gifts. They were sales founded on a most valuable consideration, in which the vendor had most important pecuniary interest at stake; and this consideration was of a twofold character. 1. ”

“ The consequences of a misjoinder in chancery are very different from what they are at law, in an action ex contractu.
The parties, appellants, have a beneficial interest in the continued devotion of the property to public uses, which a court can notice. 4 Wheat. 630, 641, 697. The proprietors of every lot are interested in the size of the streets, and in their direction; in the situation of public squares, and in the location of public institutions and buildings.
The original proprietors are especially interested. 1. In diminishing the number of building lots thrown into market. ”

“ It is not a forfeiture. It is admitted that a trust is not forfeited by its abuse; it is not claimed as a forfeiture; but having renounced it, the trust, in their favour, by directing it to be converted into private property; to whom does the property belong? It goes to the heirs of the grantor. 4 Ves. 60. 9 Ves. 399. 5 Har. & Johns. 400. 4 Wheat. 39. Append. 15.
If the power exists any where, either in congress or elsewhere, to convert these squares into building lots and private property, under the provisions of the original agreement and deed ”

“ The construction then to be given to the various matters must be the same as if three distinct conveyances had been executed after the plan of the city had been adopted, and with a specific appropriation of each portion of the premises. ”

“ The preliminary agreement then became, upon the execution of the indenture, functus officio, and was merged in the more formal and solemn stipulations of the latter. It was no longer executory, but executed. The indenture itself contained many executory trusts; and so far as any of them yet remain unexecuted, the instrument itself may still be denominated executory. But so far as the trusts have been fulfilled, as by the conveyance of lots to the grantors, or to purchasers, and especially by the conveyance of the streets and squares, &c. ”