US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

SPEIDEL V. HENRICI, 120 U. S. 377 (1887)

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U.S. Supreme Court

Speidel v. Henrici, 120 U.S. 377 (1887)

Speidel v. Henrici

Argued December 14, 1886

Decided March 7, 1887

120 U.S. 377

Syllabus

The general rule that express trusts are not within the statute of limitation does not apply to a trust openly disavowed by the trustee with the knowledge of the cestui que trust.

Implied trusts are barred by lapse of time.

A court of equity will not assist one who has slept upon his rights and shows no excuse for his laches in asserting them.

If a bill in equity shows upon its face that the plaintiff, by reason of lapse of time and of his own laches, is not entitled to relief, the objection may be taken by demurrer.

A bill in equity against persons holding a fund avowedly in trust for the common benefit of the members of a voluntary association, living together as a community and subject to its regulations, cannot, whether the trust is lawful or unlawful, be maintained by one who has left the community and for fifty years afterwards taken no step to claim any interest in the fund.

This was a bill in equity filed June 7, 1882, by Elias Speidel, a citizen of Ohio, against Jacob Henrici and Jonathan Lenz, trustees of the Harmony Society of Beaver County in the State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of Pennsylvania, and containing the following allegations:

That the plaintiff's parents lived in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg in Germany up to the year 1804,

"engaged in fanning and well to do, and without any education or knowledge of the world or of business, but devout Christians, members of the Established Protestant Church of that country, and earnest seekers after spiritual light and their salvation."

That at the same time there lived in the same neighborhood chanrobles.com-red

Page 120 U. S. 378

one George Rapp,

"a farmer and vintner, of an education superior to that of the plaintiff's parents and of the simple farming people of that country, and who was a person of great intellectual power, clear-sighted, sharp-witted, eager for superiority, and a born leader of men."

That about 1800, Rapp, without license or ordination and in violation of law, began to preach clandestinely to his countrymen, including the plaintiff's parents, and

"preached to them the doctrine that the Lord had chosen him as their spiritual leader, that the second advent of Christ and the beginning of the millennium, as taught by the revelation of St. John, was near at hand, and that, in order to be saved from eternal damnation, it would be necessary for them to separate from the established church of their country, to form a settlement by themselves under his guidance and control, and thus fit themselves for the second coming of Christ and accomplish their salvation."

That Rapp,

"by means of such clandestine teachings and by the exercise of strong willpower over the weaker minds of his said disciples, obtained such overpowering influence over about three hundred families of them,"

including the plaintiff's parents, that he caused them to separate from their established church, to believe in and accept Rapp as their only spiritual leader and as a necessary medium of their salvation, and to believe that it was necessary for their salvation that they should sell all their land and possessions for cash in hand, leave their country and friends, and,

"as the chosen of the Lord, form a colony by themselves either in the Holy Land or in the United States of America, in which places Christ would first reappear on earth;"

that during the year 1804 and 1805, "in pretended furtherance of the said pretended plan of their salvation," Lapp made about one hundred and twenty-five families of them, the plaintiff's parents included, sell all their land and possessions, emigrate to the United states, and settle near Zelienople, in Butler County, in the State of Pennsylvania, upon a wild, uncultivated tract of land, selected by said Rapp and by him called Harmony, "where the plaintiff was born, in the year 1807, and where he was raised," and chanrobles.com-red

Page 120 U. S. 379

there

"they formed a colony or voluntary association, called and known as the Harmony Society, and were made by said Rapp and became wholly subject to his absolute power and control in both spiritual and temporal affairs."

That up to their arrival at Harmony, the heads of said families had severally paid their own expenses, and had kept and had intended to keep their several means as their own, and to live each family by itself,

"but when said Rapp had succeeded in bringing them to said butler County and in separating them from their home and friends, he fraudulently and corruptly conceived the scheme to take advantage of their ignorance and helplessness and of their blind reliance upon him as the prophet of the Lord, and the Lord's chosen mouthpiece in guiding than to salvation, for the purpose of gratifying his fierce ambition and lust of power by acquiring unrestricted dominion over the money and means and mode of living of his followers and by reducing them to abject dependence upon his irresponsible will,"

and

"in furtherance of this scheme, falsely and fraudulently pretended to his said followers, the plaintiff's parents included, that they could not and would not be saved from eternal damnation except that they would renounce their plan of establishing a separate and exclusive home for each family in said settlement and that they would yield up all their possessions, the same as it had been done by the early Christians, according to the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and that they would lay their said possessions at the feet of said Rapp as their apostle, to be placed into a common fund of said Harmony Society, in the keeping of said Rapp as their trustee, and that they would live thenceforth as a community or a common household with all the rest of the followers of said Rapp and submit themselves and their families to the control of said Rapp to do for said community such work as he should direct, the avails thereof to form part of said common fund, relinquishing to him and to his successors in the leadership of said community the management of all of said trust funds and the disposition of their own persons and those of their wives and children, and they receiving only the necessaries of life in return, but

Page 120 U. S. 380

that said Rapp knew better, and did not honestly believe any of the foregoing things to be necessary to their salvation."

That

"all of said families, the parents of the plaintiff included, induced by and relying upon the said false and fraudulent representations and believing that they would be eternally damned unless they should obey the said teachings of said Rapp, immediately, in the year 1805, yielded up all their possessions to the said common fund of said Harmony Society, the parents of the plaintiff contributing thereto the sum of about one thousand dollars, and placed said fund into the keeping of said Rapp as their trustee, and lived thenceforth as a community or a common household with all the rest of the followers of said Rapp, and submitted themselves and their families to the control of said Rapp to do for said community such work as he directed, and allowed the avails thereof to form part of said common fund, and relinquished to him and his successors in the leadership of said community the management of all of said trust funds and the disposition of their own persons and those of their wives and children, and they received only the necessaries of life in return, for none of which they, or any of them, ever received or were promised any other consideration than the pretence that, by complying with the said teachings of said Rapp, they would not be damned, and that, as the chosen of the Lord, they would be led by him as their prophet, priest and king to eternal salvation."

That

"said Rapp received and accepted said trust fund and the contributions of the parents of the plaintiff thereto, and all the profits and interest, and all the accretions of said fund by the work of the plaintiff and of the other inhabitants of said community and otherwise not as his own, but in trust for the members of said families and the contributors of said fund and for their common benefit, and always, up to his death, recognized and acknowledged said trust, and disclaimed any greater interest in said funds than that of any other contributor thereto, and any other right to the management and control of said funds than by virtue of his pretended apostolic leadership of said community."

That in 1807, Rapp,

"for the purpose of breaking up among

Page 120 U. S. 381

them the last tie which could have caused them to have interests of their own separate from those of the said community at large and conflicting with his absolute dominion over their fortune and mode of life, and over their bodies and those of their wives and children, and as a part of his said fraudulent sand corrupt scheme, . . . falsely and fraudulently pretended to his said followers, the plaintiff's parents included, that there had been no difference of the sexes nor any seed of death in man until both were brought about by original sin; . . . that all intercourse of the sexes, even in wedlock, was polluting, and that they could not and would not be saved from eternal damnation except by abjuration of matrimony said of all sexual indulgence on the hart of those of his followers who were still single, and by a cessation of all conjugal intercourse on the part of those of his followers who were already married, but that said Rapp knew better, and did not honestly believe in said statements; that all of the married persons of said community, the parents of the plaintiff included, induced by and relying upon the said false and fraudulent representations and believing that they would otherwise be eternally damned, immediately ceased to have any further conjugal intercourse, and thenceforth lived as if single, and those who were single abjured matrimony and all sexual indulgence."

That the plaintiff

"was raised in and as a part of said community, and in common with the younger members of the families forming the same, was taught from his earliest infancy by Rapp to believe, and by reason of said teachings did believe"

in the doctrines propounded by Rapp as aforesaid, and

"continuously, faithfully and diligently worked in and for said community, under the control and direction of said Rapp, from the age of twelve years until the age of twenty-four years, in all for the full term of twelve years, and allowed the avails of his said work to form, and they did become and now are, part of said common fund, and the plaintiff contributed to said fund his time, attention and skill, and increased the wealth and promoted the interests of said community, and received nothing more in return than the bare necessaries of life for the said term of twelve years, and no longer, which

Page 120 U. S. 382

were of far less value than the avails of his said work, for none of which he received any other consideration than the pretence that by complying with the said teachings of said Rapp, he would not be damned, and that, as one of the chosen of the Lord, the plaintiff would be led by said Rapp as his prophet, priest, and king to eternal salvation,"

and that his contributions to the said fund, after deducting therefrom the value of the necessaries of life so received by him, were largely in excess of the sum and value of three hundred dollars, and by the interest and profit on their investment in said fund now largely exceeded the Burn and value of over thirty thousand dollars.

That in 1815, the community, including the plaintiff, and his parents, removed to Posey County, in the State of Indiana, where, in 1816, both the plaintiff's parents died, and that in 1825 the community, including the plaintiff, removed thence to Beaver County, in the State of Pennsylvania, where it has ever since remained.

That Rapp ruled over the community continuously from 1805 until his death in 1847 with absolute dominion, making the only laws or rules that were allowed to govern it, teaching and making them all believe that

"whoever broke any of said laws or rules committed the unpardonable sin, the sin against the holy Ghost, which would neither be forgiven here nor in the other world,"

forbidding the use of tobacco, determining

"the character and amount of victuals to be supplied from the common store to the inmates of the community, and the material and cut of the dress of all males and females therein, and the hours of labor, rest, and eating,"

sitting as sole judge and jury to try all charges against them, fixing the punishment at will, by putting on a diet of bread and water, excluding from church for a time, or reprimanding or expelling, without action of the community or hearing or appeal; making them confess their sins to him, "invariably, and as a necessary condition of receiving the forgiveness of the Lord," not permitting them to acquire any knowledge of the English language or to have access to English books or papers; forbidding them, on pain of damnation, to associate with or to visit any but chanrobles.com-red

Page 120 U. S. 383

inmates of the community; not allowing them to have any money or to buy or sell on their own account, threatening them for any disobedience with the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira; permitting them to become citizens of the United States, but compelling them to vote at elections for the candidate whom he selected; repeatedly and corruptly making some of them forge the names of dead persons to legal instruments, and sign and swear to false statements, he knowing them to be false; that during all this time, his management of said trust funds was selfish and rapacious; that in 1818 he destroyed the records of the original contributions made by the heads of families in 1805 for the avowed purpose of preventing the young people from finding out about them; that he studiously and fraudulently concealed from the contributors to said trust funds all his money transactions, and habitually destroyed the records thereof, and in 1845 gathered up out of the said trust fund and secreted the sum of five hundred and ten thousand dollars in coin.

That

"the whole of the said system of said Rapp was repugnant to public policy and the laws of the land, and more especially in this, that no inmate of said community was permitted by said Rapp to marry therein, and that whoever was about to enter into the married state was compelled by said Rapp to leave said community, and that the plaintiff, in the year 1831, being about to enter into the married state, had to leave and did leave said community, although said Rapp did permit, as an exception, a few of his favorites to marry in said community and to remain therein, and until after the plaintiff so left said community he was kept under such duress and restraint by the iron rule of said Rapp that he did not know, and had no means of ascertaining, the iniquity and degradation thereof and the impious and blasphemous character of the teachings of said Rapp."

That the said trust fund so received and accepted by Rapp, by profits, interest and accretions, had become of the value exceeding eight million dollars, and the net profits thereof for many years and now exceeded the sum of two hundred thousand dollars annually; that at the death of Rapp, one Romelius chanrobles.com-red

Page 120 U. S. 384

L. Baker and the defendant Henrici succeeded him as trustees of said trust, and at the death of Baker in 1868, the defendants succeeded Baker and Henrici as trustees of said trust and managers of all the estate of the Harmony Society, and that Baker and Henrici, while such trustees, and the defendants ever since,

"received and accepted the said trust fund, and all the profits and interest thereof, and all accretions of said fund received by them, not as their own, but in the same trust in which said Rapp had held said fund, and always recognized and acknowledged said trust, and always disclaimed any greater interest in said fund than any other contributor thereto; that the plaintiff did not know and had no means of ascertaining the names and places of abode of the other parties interested in said fund, but they were very numerous and their interest is common with his, and that neither Rapp nor either of the defendants ever rendered to the plaintiff or to any of the beneficiaries of said fund any account of their trust, although the plaintiff demanded an account of them and a settlement of his share therein before the bringing of this suit in May, 1882."

The prayer of the bill was

"that said trust be rescinded and held for naught as resting upon fraud and iniquity and being contrary to public policy and the laws of the land; that the persons interested in its assets be remitted to their original rights, the plaintiff included; that the defendants discover the names and places of abode of the other parties interested in the funds and property under the control of the defendants for the purpose that they may be brought before the court; that an account be taken of the said trust and assets and of the share of the plaintiff therein; that he have compensation for his contributions to said trust and to its assets; that a distribution of said assets be had, and that the plaintiff receive his share therein,"

and for further relief.

The defendants demurred to the bill, and assigned the following causes of

"1st. That it appears in and by said bill that more than fifty years have elapsed since the said alleged cause of complaint occurred to the plaintiff, whereby said cause of complaint

Page 120 U. S. 385

path became barred by the statute of limitations in such cases made end provided."

"2d. That it appears in and by said bill of complaint that the causes of complaint are stale, and that so long a time has passed since the matters and things complained of took place that it would be contrary to equity and good conscience for a court to take cognizance thereof or to enforce any further or other answer thereto."

"3d. That no case is stated in said bill authorizing the court to grant the relief sought, or any other relief."

The circuit court, without considering the first and third causes of demurrer, sustained the demurrer for the second cause assigned and dismissed the bill. 15 F.7d 3. The plaintiff appealed to this Court, and having sine died, the appeal was prosecuted by his executors.



























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