King v. Ackerman

Mr. Cutler, of New York, and Mr. Black, of Pennsylvania, for the plaintiff in error, argued that the will, properly construed, according to the law of New York, as it stood in 1822, gave Benjamin Benson no more than a life estate in the Homestead place; that the fee simple remained undisposed of, and descended to the testator's heirs-at-law, of whom the plaintiff was one, and that she had a right, after the life estate terminated, by the death of Benjamin, to recover her share in it. It is undeniable that a devise of real property, to do and dispose of it as the devisee may think proper, creates an estate in fee. It is equally clear that, by the common law, a devise of land without words which in any way denote the quantity of a donation of the estate, passes nothing but an estate for life. Benjamin, therefore, took a fee in the Williams' place, and by the words of the will, giving him the Homestead, he could have only a life estate in that.