61 Ala. 372 | Ala. | 1878
Lead Opinion
The present suit was commenced in 1866 in
On the 17th of October, 1876, two and a half years after Mrs. Hill was removed from the administration, and immediately after Mr. Tutwiler was appointed administrator de bonis non, it was moved that he, as such administrator, be substituted for Mrs. Hill as plaintiff. This motion was resisted by defendants; the motion granted, and defendants excepted. The foregoing are all the material facts that bear on the question presented.
In Harbin v. Levi, 6 Ala. 399, 403, Levi had been removed from the administration before the suit was brought. The cause of action, like that in the present record, was a note payable to the administrator for property sold by him as administrator. This court said: “We think it is clear that immediately on removal of Levi from the administration, his right over any of the assets of the estate ceased, and that
In Pope v. Irby, 57 Ala. 105, we considered section 2908 of the Code of 1876, which reads as follows: “No action abates by the death or other disability of the plaintiff or defendant, if the cause of action survive or continue; but the same must, on motion, within eighteen months thereafter, be revived in the name of or against the legal representative of the deceased, his successor, or party in interest.” In that case the plaintiff, who was suing in his own right, died, and more than eighteen months elapsed before motion was made to revive in the name of the personal representative. Under the statute above, we ruled that the motion came too late. The statute provides alike for the cessation of the party’s capacity to sue or be sued, whether caused by death or other disability. In either event, the suit “ must, on motion within eighteen months thereafter, be revived in the name of, or against the legal representative of the deceased, his successor or party in interest.” In the case of Pope v. Irby, supra, we said, “ The statute authorizing the revivor of pending suits, and preventing their abatement because of the death or other intervening disability of plaintiff or defendant limits the right of revivor to eighteen months from the occurrence of the event which renders it necessary to revive.” And the statute, section 2908, makes the same provision for revivor for and against a “ successor or party in interest,” as it does in reference to the legal representative. Having ruled that the revivor in favor of, or against the legal repre- • sentative, can not be made, if moved for after eighteen months from the occurrence of the event which renders it necessary, we feel bound to make the same ruling as to a succeeding administrator, or other successor in the right to sue or be sued. We hold that section 2622 of the Code of 1876 must be construed in connection with section 2908, and that
The judgment of the Circuit Court is reversed, and the cause remanded.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). — The statute on which the question in this case depends, is as follows: “ No action abates by the death or other disability of the plaintiff or defendant, if the cause of action survive or continue; but the same must, on motion within eighteen months thereafter, be revived in the name of or against the legal representative of the deceased, his successor or party in interest.” — § 2908 (2542) of the Code of 1876. This was evidently enacted for the remedial purpose of intercepting and delaying — not of hastening — the abatement of suits; an object that should be kept in mind when construing the act. Under this idea, we took notice in Ex parte Jones, 54 Ala. 108, of the different state, according to the common law, of an action in which the plaintiff died, and of an action in which the plaintiff suing as an executor or administrator, had ceased to be such, but was still living. In the former instance, the action would abate by the mere death of the plaintiff, and a" judgment afterwards rendered in it would be wholly void; while in the latter case, the suit would not abate, nor would a judgment rendered in it be void. The plaintiff living would keep the action alive, and he might prosecute it to a judgment in a suit, like the present, on a note payable to him as administrator, unless his removal from the office which entitled him to maintain it, was pleaded and shown. We consequently held in that case, in which the plaintiff, an administrator, had been removed, that when that fact was more than eighteen months afterwards brought to the attention of the court, the motion made at the same term to substitute his successor for him as plaintiff, ought to have been granted.
The statute being remedial, and its application tending to save costs, I think the decision made in that case ought to be adhered to, and that in the present case the judgment of’ revivor in the Circuit Court ought to be affirmed.