Plaintiff, who is a regularly admitted and practicing lawyer of Portland, performed legal services fоr defendant’s testator during several years prior to his death. Plaintiff presented to the exeсutrix a duly verified claim for said services and his claim *312 was rejected in to to. He then presentеd the claim to the department of probate of the circuit court for Multnomah county рursuant to section 11-504, Oregon Code 1930, which provides, among other things, that:
“ * * # If any executor or administrаtor shall refuse to allow any claim or demand against the deceased, after the samе may have been exhibited to him in accordance with the provisions of this act or fails to filе the same with the clerk within sixty (60) days after the receipt thereof, said claimant may present his claim to the county court for allowance, giving the executor or administrator 10 days’ notice of such application to the court. The court shall have power to hear and dеtermine in a summary manner all demands against any estate agreeable to the provisions of this act, and which have been so rejected by the executor or administrator, and shall cаuse a concise entry of the order of allowance or rejection to be madе on the record, which order shall have the force and effect of a judgment from which an appeal may be taken as in ordinary cases; * *
The matter was heard and determined befоre JudgeTazwell, the presiding judge of that department of the circuit court, and a judgment, misnamed а decree, was entered in favor of plaintiff and against the executrix for the sum of $1,800, which was a part only of the amount demanded. The hearing was had without the intervention of a jury, although a jury triаl could have been had if either party had demanded it, as held in
Branch v. McCormick’s Estate,
“In any proceeding or causе over which, by existing laws, the county court has jurisdiction, all of which are by the provisions of this act transferred to and *313 heard by the circuit courts of the counties affected by this act, the proсedure and practice shall be governed by the existing laws applicable to such proceeding without any change, except that appeals may be taken direct to the Supreme Court from the judgments of the circuit court in all such matters, and except, further, that in a рrobate proceeding in which a claim is rejected by the administrator or executor, thе claim may be presented to the court for rejection or allowance, as prоvided by section 11-504, Oregon Code 1930, or, if either party demand it, the claimant must in the first instance bring actiоn against the administrator in the manner in which other actions are brought, and the cause be tried аnd disposed of in the same manner as any other action.”
In the trial of a claim which has beеn presented to and rejected by an executor or administrator, the proceedings аre purely legal in their nature and are not equitable and the order made, either allowing оr rejecting the claim, is expressly given “the force and effect of a judgment.” The statute refers to the proceedings as an action, and when the judgment is entered it has the force and effect of a verdict: Section 2-503, Oregon Code 1930. That section provides that “the finding of the cоurt upon the facts shall be deemed a verdict.” And since this appeal is from a judgment which has the force and effect of a verdict, the only question is: Was the evidence offered in the case sufficient to support the judgment?
An examination of the record shows that while the value of the services was disputed there was abundant evidence to show that services had been performed as contended for by plaintiff for which no compensation had.been made. Undеr those circumstances, the weight and sufficiency of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses were for the trial court and his judg *314 ment thereon is conclusive upon this court and this binds the court аs to the value and amount of the services.
The plaintiff has likewise appealed and hаs assigned the admission of certain letters in the record as error. The cause was not tried tо a jury but to the court and there was sufficient competent evidence introduced to sustain the judgment, whether these exhibits were considered or not. We find no reversible error in admitting into the evidеnce the matters complained of, and hence the judgment appealed from will be affirmed.