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Gallery 07

Conditions from the grave

Control. The law it tested: conditions and the rule against perpetuities.

40 storiesControlConditions and the rule against perpetuities
Spanish: Los Embajadores The Ambassadorstitle QS:P1476,es:"Los Embajadores "label QS:Les,"Los Embajadores "label QS:Lhu,, painting by Hans Holbein the Younger
Spanish: Los Embajadores The Ambassadorstitle QS:P1476,es:"Los Embajadores "label QS:Les,"Los Embajadores "label QS:Lhu,. Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

What did these cases decide about conditions and the rule against perpetuities?

A detailed no-contest clause, combined with real gifts to each heir, gives every heir something to lose by suing. A family name without income does not keep a house; this one survived on a relative's gift and a buyer's covenant against demolition. A will not updated after a new child or marriage gives both a claim; Brown's 2000 will predated his son.

Stories
40
Years
1250 BCE to 2023
Main subjects
Literature and art, Music and sport, Jewish law and estates
Main regions
Europe, North America, East Asia
Updated
30 October 2026

Every case in this gallery, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra (1957 studio portrait close-up)1998 · Los Angeles, CaliforniaFrank Sinatra's will disinherited any family member who challenged it, listing 13 forbidden legal actionsFrank Sinatra's fourth wife, Barbara, and his three children from his first marriage, Nancy, Frank Jr. and Tina, had a long and public rift. His will anticipated a court fight.Deseret News and 2 moreJacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Jackie Kennedy Color Portrait (3x4 cropped)1977 · Grey Gardens, East Hampton, New YorkJacqueline Onassis paid to stop her aunt's eviction from Grey Gardens, and the house sold for $220,000 on condition it not be torn downGrey Gardens is an East Hampton house designed in 1897 by Joseph Greenleaf Thorp. Phelan Beale and his wife Edith Bouvier Beale, aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy, bought it in the 1920s.The New Yorker and 5 moreJames Brown: James Brown 1996 (HQ)2006 · Atlanta, GeorgiaJames Brown left his fortune to educate poor children, and 15 years of lawsuits came before the estate sold for about $90 millionJames Brown died of pneumonia in Atlanta at 73. His will, signed in 2000, put his music and name rights into the "I Feel Good Trust" to pay for the education of needy children in South Carolina and Georgia.ABA Journal and 3 moreLeona Helmsley: Leona Helmsley cropped mug2007 · Dunnellen Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut, USALeona Helmsley left $12 million in trust for her dog Trouble and nothing to 2 grandchildren, and a judge cut the dog's trust to $2 millionLeona Helmsley, a hotel operator and real estate investor, was convicted of federal income tax evasion in 1989. She died of congestive heart failure on 20 August 2007 at Dunnellen Hall, her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 87.NBC News and 14 moreFrida Kahlo: Frida Kahlo, by Guillermo Kahlo1954 · Coyoacán, Mexico CityDiego Rivera locked Frida Kahlo's bathroom after she died, and her clothes and papers stayed sealed for 50 yearsFrida Kahlo died at the Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán.getty.edu and 3 moreGina Lollobrigida: Gina Lollobrigida - Publicity still (1956)2023 · Rome, ItalyGina Lollobrigida left half her estate to an assistant who was convicted of exploiting her, and her son says €10 million is goneGina Lollobrigida met Andrea Piazzolla when he was 21 and working as a delivery boy at her villa on the Appia Antica in Rome. He became her assistant and manager and moved into the villa.corriere.it and 6 morePat Bowlen2019 · Denver, ColoradoPat Bowlen's trust was meant to keep the Broncos in his family; two daughters and his brother sued, and the team was soldPat Bowlen bought the Broncos in 1984. Alzheimer's forced him to step aside in 2014. A three-person trust led by team president Joe Ellis ran the team.cpr.org and 2 moreBeatrix Potter: Beatrix Potter by King cropped1943 · Near Sawrey, Lake District, EnglandBeatrix Potter left more than 4,000 acres and 14 or 15 farms to the National Trust, with a life interest for her husbandPotter put her royalties into Hill Top Farm in 1905 and bought Troutbeck Park Farm in 1923 to keep it from developers. She died on 22 December 1943; one source puts her estate at £211,636.beatrixpottersociety.org.uk and 3 moreJ. M. Barrie: James Matthew Barrie001937 · LondonJ.M. Barrie gave Peter Pan to a children's hospital, and Parliament made the hospital's royalty permanentIn 1929 Great Ormond Street Hospital in London asked Barrie to join a building committee. He declined, saying he hoped to find another way to help.legislation.gov.uk and 3 moreMary Shelley: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley title QS:P1476,en:"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley "label QS:Len,"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley "l1822 · at sea off Viareggio, ItalyShelley's father would fund his widow only if she published no biography, and she kept the remains of his heart in her deskPercy Bysshe Shelley drowned when his sailing boat sank in a storm near Viareggio. His body washed up about ten days later and was cremated on the beach. His father, Sir Timothy Shelley, controlled the family estate.mentalfloss.com and 3 moreRoger Casement-Grave in Glasnevin: Roger Casement-Grave in Glasnevin1916 · Pentonville Prison, London; Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, IrelBritain hanged Roger Casement in 1916 and buried him in quicklime, returned him to Dublin in 1965 on condition he stay out of the North, and in October 2026 his supporters applied to move himRoger Casement was put ashore at Banna Strand, County Kerry, on 21 April 1916 and arrested with malaria at an old fort nearby. His trial for high treason opened on 26 June 1916 at the Royal Courts of Justice.irishnews.com and 2 moreAI illustration: Compton Place, Eastbourne, the house where the 10th Duke of Devonshire died in 19501950 · Compton Place, Eastbourne, SussexThe 10th Duke of Devonshire died in 1950 before his tax plan matured, and his heirs took 17 years to pay 80 percent death dutyEdward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, owned Chatsworth, Hardwick Hall, Bolton Abbey, Lismore Castle in Ireland and about 83,000 acres in Derbyshire alone.chatsworth.org and 5 moreAI illustration: A will on a desk in an Ohio lawyer's office, 1970s1973 · Mahoning County (Youngstown), OhioAn Ohio doctor's will gave his son seven years to marry a Jewish woman or lose his share to the State of Israel, and the court upheld itDr David Shapira died on 13 April 1973, a resident of Mahoning County, Ohio.Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 moreSultan of Sulu with others LCCN2014685226 (cropped): Title: Sultan of Sulu with others Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.2017 · Sabah, Malaysia; Madrid, Spain; Paris, FranceMalaysia stopped paying the Sulu sultan's heirs in 2013, and a Spanish arbitrator awarded them US$14.92 billionOn 22 January 1878 the Sultan of Sulu signed a grant to Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent over his lands on the mainland of Borneo, "for ever and in perpetuity", in return for 5,000 dollars a year to the sultan "his heirs or successors".sagc.sabah.gov.my and 7 moreRabbi Ovadia Yosef: Rabbi Ovaid Yosef2013 · JerusalemRabbi Ovadia Yosef left nearly everything to his youngest son; his other children fought over the Jerusalem flat until 2016Ovadia Yosef was Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983 and the spiritual leader of the Shas party. He died in October 2013, aged 93, leaving 11 children.theyeshivaworld.com and 5 moreMarcus Aurelius: Portrait of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (type III). Roman artwork of the Antonine period. Discovered at Acqua Traversa, near Rome, 1674.108 · Rome, ItalyAn orator ruined two brothers' father, made them his heirs, and the fortune passed down a chain of adoptions to Marcus Aurelius's motherPliny the Younger tells the story. The orator Domitius Afer helped have the estate of Sextus Curvius Tullus of Gallia Narbonensis confiscated.Project Gutenberg and 3 moreBogd Khan: Depicted person: Bogd Khan – Great Khan of Outer Mongolia (1869–1924)1924 · Urga (Ulaanbaatar), MongoliaWhen the Bogd Khan died in 1924, Mongolia's government took his seal, declared a republic and banned the search for his reincarnationThe 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu was born in Tibet in 1869 and became head of Buddhism in Mongolia. When Mongolia broke from the Qing in 1911 he became the Bogd Khan, ruler of the state.dalailama.com and 4 moreGreenway Court, Virginia, where the story took place1781 · Greenway Court, VirginiaVirginia confiscated Lord Fairfax's Northern Neck, and his heir's land claim reached the Supreme Court twiceThomas, 6th Lord Fairfax, held the Northern Neck Proprietary of Virginia, about 5,282,000 acres. Virginia's Act of 1779 confiscated title to the domain. Fairfax died in December 1781, two months after Yorktown.Cornell Law School, LII and 5 moreAI illustration: Alton Towers, Staffordshire, in the 1850s1856 · Alton Towers, StaffordshireThe 17th Earl of Shrewsbury left his estates to the Duke of Norfolk's baby son; a distant cousin won the earldom and Alton TowersBertram Talbot, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, was a Catholic. He died unmarried on 10 August 1856, aged 23. He believed the earldom died with him.UK Parliament, Hansard and 6 moreJohn McDonogh: Johnmcdonogh1850 · McDonoghville, Louisiana, USAJohn McDonogh left two cities a fortune for free schools, his heirs said Louisiana law voided the gift, and New Orleans pulled down his statue in 2020John McDonogh, born in Baltimore in 1779, built a fortune in New Orleans land and by his death owned over 600,000 acres in thirteen parishes. The people he enslaved rose from 16 in 1820 to 192 in 1840.law.resource.org and 2 moreMisión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto - Baja California Sur (14563317428): Loreto, Mexico 2014 Legend and history confirms that Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra with very few resource1842 · Mexico City, Mexico; California, USA; The Hague, NetherlandsMexico seized the Jesuit mission fund for California in 1842, and the claim ran 125 years through the first case at The HagueIn 1697 donors in Mexico began giving money and land to the Jesuits to support missions in California. Spain allowed it on condition that the royal treasury paid nothing.history.state.gov and 3 moreArthur Wellesley: The Duke of Wellington is standing at half-length, wearing Field Marshal’s uniform, with the Garter star and sash, the badge of the Golden Fleece, and a special b1852 · Walmer Castle, KentBelgium bought out the Duke of Wellington's "perpetual" Waterloo rent in 1988 and kept a right to take back the landWilliam I of the Netherlands made Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, Prince of Waterloo by royal decree of 8 July 1815.Boletín Oficial del Estado and 3 morePlowing land for cane planting on Hacienda Luisita, Central Tarlac, P: Plowing land for cane planting on Hacienda Luisita, Central Tarlac, P.I. (Neg. No. 338, July 11, 1929 - R.D. 1976 · Tarlac, PhilippinesThe Cojuangcos bought Hacienda Luisita in 1957 on a promise to sell it to tenants, and the Supreme Court ordered it handed to 6,296 farmworkers in 2011In 1957 the Spanish tobacco company Tabacalera sold Hacienda Luisita, a 6,443-hectare sugar estate in Tarlac, with its sugar mill. The buyer was José Cojuangco Sr., through the Tarlac Development Corporation.lawphil.net and 5 moreWilliam Shakespeare: Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1646) title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1646) "label QS:Len1616 · Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare left his wife his "second best bed" and struck his new son-in-law out of the willIn January 1616 William Shakespeare called the lawyer Francis Collins and had a draft will made. He did not sign it. In February his younger daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney.nationalarchives.gov.uk and 3 moreGasse in der Fuggerei, Augsburg: Narrow street in the Fuggerei, Augsburg.1525 · Augsburg, Bavaria, GermanyJakob Fugger fixed the Fuggerei's rent at one guilder a year in 1521, and the rent has not changed in 505 yearsJakob Fugger "the Rich" (1459-1525) began building in 1516. On 23 August 1521 he signed the deed founding the Fuggerei, to exist "in perpetuity." By 1521 there were 52 buildings.blogs.loc.gov and 2 moreMoctezuma II: Moctezuma Mendoza1520 · TenochtitlanSpain and then Mexico paid Moctezuma's heirs for Tacuba lands until a 1934 decree, and a Spanish dukedom still carries his nameAfter Tenochtitlan fell, Spain granted Moctezuma II's daughter Isabel perpetual ownership of lands that included Tacuba. Chroniclers counted more than 300 towns there.boe.gob.es and 4 moreMehmed IV: Mahomet IV. sonst Achmet genannt Türckischer Kaÿser1481 · Istanbul, TurkeyA Turkish court ruled in 2020 that Mehmed II's endowment deed still bound Hagia Sophia as a mosque, while an Armenian foundation could not recover its confiscated Istanbul innHagia Sophia was built as a church in the sixth century. After the Ottoman conquest in 1453 it became a mosque. A few years later Sultan Mehmed II made it part of his waqf, a perpetual religious endowment.harvardlawreview.org and 2 moreAI illustration: Counsel argue the Thellusson will before the Court of Chancery in Lincoln's Inn Hall, 17991797 · Plaistow Lodge, Bromley, KentPeter Thellusson locked his fortune away for three generations, and Parliament changed the law to stop anyone copying himPeter Thellusson came from a Genevan banking family, settled in London in 1761 and became a merchant and banker.lbs.ucl.ac.uk and 3 moreAI illustration: Peers in Westminster Hall at the bigamy trial of the Duchess of Kingston, 17761788 · ParisThe House of Lords convicted the Duchess of Kingston of bigamy, and she left England with the Duke's fortuneElizabeth Chudleigh, maid of honour to the Princess of Wales, secretly married the naval officer Augustus Hervey at Lainston, near Winchester, on 4 August 1744. They hid it so she could keep her court post.Wikisource (primary text) and 4 moreCharles II of Spain: Spanish: Carlos II de España Charles II of Spaintitle QS:P1476,es:"Carlos II de España "label QS:Les,"Carlos II de Españ1700 · Madrid, SpainSpain's childless Charles II left his whole empire to a French prince in his will, and Europe went to war for 13 yearsCharles II of Spain, the last Spanish Habsburg, had serious inherited disabilities and no children. His empire included Spain, much of Italy, the Spanish Netherlands and the Americas.Wikipedia (English) and 1 morePortrait of Henry Frederick Howard, 22th Earl of Arundel (1608-1652) title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of Henry Frederick Howa: Portrait of Henry Frederick Howard, 22th Earl of Arundel (1677 · Padua, Italy; estates in England, UKThe Earl of Arundel's heir went insane in Padua, his younger brothers fought over the family settlement, and the case created the rule against perpetuitiesHenry Frederick Howard, Earl of Arundel (1608 to 1652), had the lawyer Sir Orlando Bridgeman draft a settlement to keep the family land in the family.legislation.gov.uk and 4 moreSaskia van Uylenburgh: Portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh "label QS:Len,"Portrait of Saskia1642 · Amsterdam, NetherlandsSaskia's will let Rembrandt use their son's inheritance only if he never remarried, and he lived unmarried and went bankruptRembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburgh on 22 June 1634. In 1638 her Frisian relatives complained that she was squandering her inheritance. In 1639 Rembrandt bought a house on the Sint Antonisbreestraat for 13,000 guilders.assets.cambridge.org and 4 moreChristopher Columbus: Portrait of a Man, Said to be Christopher Columbus dead title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of a Man, Said to be Christopher Col1506 · Valladolid; MontalbánColumbus's heirs sued the Spanish Crown for 28 years over his promised tenth and viceroyalty, and settled for a dukedom and 10,000 ducats a yearAt Santa Fe in April 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella made Columbus Admiral, Viceroy and Governor of any lands he found. They also gave him a tenth of the gold, silver, pearls, spices and other goods obtained there.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 4 moreArqua panorama: Panorama della zona alta dell'abitato di Arquà Petrarca da Monte Castello1374 · Arquà Petrarca, Padua, ItalyVenice gave Petrarch a house for his library, the library went to his enemies' heirs and then to France, and the skull in his tomb is a woman'sIn 1362 Petrarch offered his books to Venice. The Republic gave him a house on the Riva degli Schiavoni on condition that his works stay in Venice after his death. He left Venice and never sent the books.bnf.fr and 4 moreArch of Augustus Rimini 1916: Rimini's Arch of Augustus after the 1916 earthquake, in circa 191627 BCE · Ariminum (Rimini), ItalySepticia married an old man to spite her sons and left them nothing, and Augustus gave them her estateValerius Maximus, writing under the emperor Tiberius, collected Roman cases of wills that were overturned. One concerns Septicia, mother of the Trachali brothers of Ariminum.attalus.org and 2 moreEpicurus: Epikouros BM 1843270 BCE · Athens, GreeceEpicurus willed his Garden to his school for ever, and two centuries later a Roman exile owned the ruins of his house and planned to pull it downEpicurus died at Athens in 271 or 270 BC, aged 72, after a fortnight's illness from kidney stones. Hermippus says he sat in a warm bronze bath, drank unmixed wine and told his friends to remember his teachings.Wikisource (primary text) and 2 moreTamaudun 02: 沖縄県 玉陵1450 · Unten, Nakijin, Okinawa, Japan; Kyoto, JapanKyoto Imperial University took bones from a Ryukyuan royal tomb, descendants sued for them, and the university gave them to the village in 2025 on condition they never be buriedMumujana, "the tomb of many lords," is a cave tomb on a cliff above Unten port in Nakijin, Okinawa. It holds lacquered coffins and the bones of local lords of the 1400s and their families.ryukyushimpo.jp and 4 moreBheeshma oathlabel QS:Len,"Bheeshma oath"label QS:Lml,"ഭീഷ്മശപഥം": Bhishma taking oath, on abdicating his right to the throne, in order to get the fisher girl married to his fatherLegend · 400 BCE · Hastinapura, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaThe Mahabharata says Bhishma gave up the Kuru throne and vowed never to marry so his father could wed, and the line ran out of heirsThe Adi Parva says King Shantanu wanted to marry Satyavati, a fisherman's daughter. Her father would agree only if her son became king. He also feared that the crown prince Devavrata's own children would later claim the throne.Wikisource (primary text) and 2 moreAntigone Gives Token Burial to the Body of Her Brother Polyniceslabel QS:Len,"Antigone Gives Token Burial to the Body of: Drawing; DrawingsLegend · 1250 BCE · Thebes (Thiva), GreeceThe plays say Oedipus's sons agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years, then killed each other, and the new king forbade burial of one of themThe tradition says that after Oedipus left Thebes, his sons Eteocles and Polynices divided the kingdom by time. The mythographer Apollodorus records that they agreed "that each should rule alternately" for a year.classics.mit.edu and 2 more20171212 130500-rachel-wife-of-rabbi-akiva-grave-tverya: Tomb of Rachel in TiberiasScripture · 70 · JerusalemThe Talmud says Kalba Savua disinherited his daughter for marrying the shepherd Akiva, then gave him half his fortuneThe Babylonian Talmud says Akiva was a shepherd for Ben Kalba Savua, one of the richest men in Jerusalem. Kalba Savua's daughter saw that Akiva was modest and refined.sefaria.org and 3 more