The case of Broadway National Bank vs. Charles W. Adams & another established that a person who has complete control over their property can create a trust in favor of someone else, with the condition that the beneficiary cannot sell or give away the income before receiving it, and that creditors cannot take it before it is paid to the beneficiary. This condition can be included even if there is no limit on the beneficiary's ownership of the property. The court ruled in favor of the trust in this case. The court cannot compel the trustee to pay the income from the trust fund to the plaintiff, as it would violate the provisions and intention of the testator's will. The common law rule is that a condition preventing alienation of property is repugnant to the nature of the estate granted.

Lord Coke's rule against conditions that prevent the alienation of property does not apply to trusts. Different courts have conflicting views on whether the common law rule against conditions that prevent the alienation of property should apply to equitable life estates created by will or deed. The English Court of Chancery has held that when the income of a trust estate is given to any person for life, the equitable estate for life is alienable and liable to the debts of the beneficiary. However, other courts have rejected the English rule and held that the founder of a trust may prevent the alienation of the income and protect it from the beneficiary's debts by providing for such conditions. In this case, the founder's intention was to give his brother the right to receive income semiannually, which would become his absolute property only upon payment. This intention should be upheld unless it is against public policy. The nature of the estate given to the beneficiary does not require the power of alienation, so the restraint of such alienation is not inconsistent.

A testator can give a qualified interest in the income of a trust fund to protect the beneficiary from misfortune or improvidence, as long as it does not defraud the beneficiary's creditors. Creditors cannot rely on property held in trust and declared inalienable by the beneficiary to give credit. The founder of a trust can restrict the alienability of the property and creditors cannot attach it in advance. The rule of public policy does not subject a donor's property to the debts of their beneficiary. In this case, the income of the trust fund created for the defendant cannot be reached by attachment before it is paid to him. The bill is dismissed.