Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 1).pdf/250

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226
NORTH DAKOTA REPORTS.

ficiaries, and when the period for distribution arrives the testator provides for such distribution as follows: “And at such period I direct the division of all the capital of my residuary estate among all my lineal descendants then living, to each an equal share thereof,” etc. That the testator intended that a portion of his real estate should not necessarily be sold is evident from the provisions of his will directing that the rents and royalties from his coal-lands shall be deemed a part of the capital of his estate, thus clearly showing that he contemplated their continuing unchanged subject to the trust. He also declares that such lands shall not be sold while they produce rents or royalties unless exceptionally full prices shall be obtained therefor, or unless for some reason it becomes unwise for the trustees to retain the lands as part of the estate. As to these lands, it is evident that an out and out conversion was not only not thought of, but on the contrary was expressly provided against. This fact is important in view of the contention that by using the word “capital” in referring to his residuary estate the testator has employed a word which describes personal property only. If the word does not, as used by the testator, embrace real estate, then these coal-lands are not included in the residuary estate, and are not therefore subject to the trust, although in express terms subjected to it. The word “capital” as used necessarily relates to both real and personal property, and that it was the design of the testator to have it refer to both kinds of property is manifest from the fact that he uses it as synonymous with the word “principal.” In several places he speaks of the “capital or principal” of his residuary estate. This phrase “capital or principal” is used in the game sense as the word “capital,” as appears from the context. The word means merely the corpus of the residuary estate, whether consisting of real or personal property, as contradistinguished from the income thereof.

In the management of the estate by the trustees the testator manifests but a single controlling solicitude. His scheme is to have the corpus of his residuary estate so handled and invested as to produce the greatest income consistent with safety, and he even evinces a willingness to risk somewhat the princi-