State's highest court rules on management of a bequest by John Adams - yes, that John Adams

The Supreme Judicial Court decided today it will not break a below-market-rates lease between Quincy and the local historical society for a building on land originally owned by John Adams, even though that deprives a beneficiary of Adams's largesse of revenue.

A dispute between Quincy and the Woodward School centers on an 1822 land gift by Adams to the city, which contained a provision to create a fund that ultimately became entirely dedicated to the school.

In 1972, a single justice of the court approved a deal in which the city leased one of the buildings on the land to the Quincy Historical Society for just $100 a month for 50 years.

In 2011, however, a judge agreed to remove the city as trustee of the Adams Temple and School Fund after finding it had mismanaged the money. The fund's new trustee last year filed to revoke the historical society's lease - and to be paid damages - because the fund should be earning more money from the lease.

The state's highest court ruled today, however, that basically what's done is done.

Although the Woodward School was not a part of the 1972 court case, the state attorney general was, in his role as protector of public trusts. That means that somebody was looking out for the school's interests, the court said.

And the issue of the validity of the lease is the same now as it was in 1972, so under the principle of res judicata - basically, that you can't attempt to retry the same exact issue after a judicial ruling on it - the 1972 lease remains valid, the court ruled.