When this case was last here (21 Ala. 302) we held, that the husband, after the death of his wife, could not be required to account for the income of her separate estate reeeived by him during coverture ; and this decision is conclusive upon us in the present case. — Price v. Price, 23 Ala. 609, and cases there cited. It is urged, however, on the part of the appellant, that the husband was bound to account for the hire of the slaves forming the separate estate of the wife, accruing from the time of the marriage— the 31st March, 1849 — until the 1st January, 1850, for the
It is insisted by the appellant, that, as the wife died intestate only as to a portion of her estate, the husband was not entitled to one half of the personal property undisposed of by her will; but this position cannot be sustained. Under the acts of 1848 and 1850, the husband as a distributee is entitled to take absolutely one half of the wife’s personal estate, unless she makes a different disposition of it by will; and a case of partial intestacy falls. under the general law applicable to cases of that character, which provides for distribution of the property not bequeathed as if no will at all had been made. — Blay’s Digest 597 § 7 ; Denson v. Autrey, 21 Ala. 205.
Neither was there any error in the action of the court, allowing to the husband, as executor, the payments he had made out of her estate for debts incurred by her before marriage; the record showing that these debts were a proper charge against such estate in the hands of her guardian. Under the acts to which we have before referred, the husband, by virtue of the marriage, occupies the position simply of trustees of the property belonging to his wife; and certainly a trustee
The ruling of the probate judge on the questions considered, being in conformity with the law, the judgment is affirmed.