In re Estate of Earle
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
85 A.2d 90 (1951)
George Earle, Jr., who died in 1928, left a will directing that if his estate exceeded $5 million after taxes, "each and every one" of his grandsons bearing the Earle surname would receive $100,000 from a trust; Anthony Wayne Earle, a grandson, was born in 1949, over two decades after George's death, prompting a dispute over whether he qualified for the gift. The trial court ruled against Anthony, applying the "rule of convenience" to limit the gift to grandsons alive during George's own lifetime, and the decision was appealed.
Whether a will's use of the phrase "each and every one" in granting a gift to a class of beneficiaries (grandsons bearing a specific surname) clearly expresses an intent to include class members born after the testator's death, overriding the ordinary rule of convenience that would otherwise close the class at death.