43 Pa. 155 | Pa. | 1862
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
We concur in opinion with the Orphans’ Court that a portion of the balance found due to the administrator on the settlement of his administration account was a lien upon the real estate of the decedent when the petition for the order of sale was presented, and that consequently the court had jurisdiction to make the order. We also think that no more of the sum credited to the administrator in his account remained a lien, than that for which judgment was obtained within five years, and the amount expended for services in the settlement of the estate. The Act. of February 24th 1884 is too plain to admit of any doubt. The limitation of the lien of the debts of a decedent is complete when five years have elapsed from his death, unless an action be commenced and prosecuted, or a copy of the demand be filed in the specified cases. The statutory period begins to run from the time of his death, not from the grant of letters-of administration on his estate. Nor can the fact that the administrator advanced his own funds and paid the debt within five years prolong the existence of the lien. The only
And we agree with the Orphans’ Court that it was not for the purchaser at the sale, who was the administrator (though not the trustee who made it), and who petitioned for the order, to object that the order which he prepared and for which he asked, was not in strict conformity with the directions of the Act of March 22d 1859. Especially so when, as in this case, the want of conformity to the directions of the act may be wholly remedied at the time of confirmation.
It is not, however, so clear to us that the purchaser ought to be compelled to take the property for which he bid, in view of the circumstances of the case. The order to sell was granted on the 22d of August 1859, and was made returnable on the 6th of December in the same year. The sale was appointed for the 24tlf of September, when appellant became the highest bidder, and the property was returned as having been sold to him. Before the return the widow and heirs of the decedent obtained a rule to show cause why the order and all proceedings under it should not be set aside, and, on the 19th December 1859, they filed exceptions to the confirmation of the sale. On the 3d of February 1800, the court ordered the proceedings to be suspended, and held the case under advisement. On the 3d of March 1860, before the purchaser would have been entitled to the possession, and a deed, under the order of the- court and the conditions of sale, the mill on the premises was destroyed by fire, and thereby the property was largely depreciated in value. The widow and heirs then withdrew their objections to the confirmation of the sale, and asked the court to confirm it and direct the trustee to make a deed to the purchaser, and on the 18th of December 1860 (the court being of opinion that the loss occasioned by the fire must be borne by the purchaser), a decree of confirmation was entered.
It is, perhaps, not indispensable that we should determine whether the purchaser at such a sale becomes, before its confirmation, so fully the owner of the property purchased that he must bear any loss occasioned by fire or other accidents. In ordinary sales by articles of agreement the purchaser is entitled to accretions, and must sustain any loss caused by accidental- injuries to the property between the time of the agreement for the purchase and the execution of the deed. This appears to be well settled. Equity regards that as done which has been agreed to be done, and which the parties to the agreement have in their power to do :
It is said that while there is an analogy between a purchase
It must be admitted, however, that there are remarks in the opinion of Judge Rogers, delivered in Robb v. Mann, 1 Jones 300, which assert strongly that a purchaser at an Orphans’ Court sale is, in contemplation of equity, the owner of the land purchased from the time of the auction, and before its confirmation. Yet to me the remarks of the judge seem to be outside of the case. It was a suit brought by the administrator against the purchaser for the purchase-money. The sale had been confirmed, and the purchaser had taken possession. Deterioration of the value of the land of course could not avail as a defence against the administrator, whether the purchaser had title before the confirmation of the sale or not.
It is ordered that the decree of the Orphans’ Court confirming the sale be reversed, and that the sale made to the appellant be set aside.