33 Am. Dec. 227 | Va. | 1837
Upon the first question which arises in this case, and which involves the validity of the arrangement of the debt due from Grymes’s estate to Robinson’s estate, made with the defendant Scott, I am of opinion, that Scott being de facto administrator of Robinson, under the appointment of a court of record having jurisdiction of the probate of wills and the granting of administration, any payment made to him by any debtor of that estate, before his authority was superseded, would have been a good payment, and, of course, every irrevocable arrangement made with him by such debtor, would be good and valid against any subsequent administrator. I do not consider a county or hustings court, in relation to the grant of administration, as standing on the same footing with (he ordinary in England. The county court is a court of record, and its judgments or sentences cannot be questioned, collaterally, in other actions, provided it has jurisdiction of the cause. 6 Bac. Abr. Sheriff. M. 2. p. 166. 3 Wils. 345. And this is to be understood as having reference to jurisdiction over the subject matter: foe though it may be that the facts do not give jurisdiction over the particular case, yet if the jurisdiction extends over that class of cases, the judgment cannot be questioned; for then, the question of jurisdiction enters into and becomes an essential part of the judgment of the court. Thus, if a county court were to give judgment of death against a white man, the
Such would clearly be the law, in lhe case of a Us contéstala, where both parties appeared, and the defendant either submitted to the jurisdiction, or upon plea it was decided against him. How then is it, where there is a proceeding cxparte, and of course where the party interested, who denies the jurisdiction, was not before the court which assumed it? And here I conceive, as before, that as to all the world except the party interested, whose rights are invaded or are to be affected by the sentence, that sentence is conclusive. Thus, if administration be granted by the county court of Henrico, when the jurisdiction in fact belonged to Hanover, within which county was the mansion house of the intestate, yet no debtor of the estate could be received to plead nc tinques administrator, in bar of an action for the recovery of a debt due to the estate. The greatest confusion and mischief would ensue, if such were the law; for then, wherever delay was desired, every debtor would deny the jurisdiction, and arrest the recovery of a just debt, by embarrassing inquiries as to the decedent’s domicil or the place of his death, or whether the greater part of his lands or estate lay in this or that county. I take it, therefore, to be perfectly clear, that Bassett or Braxton could not have controverted Scott's powers, and that payment to him, or an
Before I pass to other points, let us see how far other persons claiming administration are bound by the irreguiar grant of a court not having jurisdiction in the very case. Thus, how far was the sheriff of Middlesex concluded by the grant of administration of the hustings court of Richmond, supposing it not to have had jurisdiction in this particular case ? And here observe, that the proceeding in the hustings court having been ex parte instead of inter paries, it could conclude the rights of no person claiming against it. The general court, moreover, having jurisdiction in all cases of administration, any person authorized to take it, whether next of kin, creditor or sheriff, might in that court move for and obtain administration as of right, unless it was excluded by some other court of concurrent jurisdiction. When, therefore, such motion is made, is it competent to arrest the proceeding by shewing that the hustings court had, without jurisdiction, granted administration to another ? I think not. It is admitted, that the order might be repealed by citation or rule upon the party in the hustings court. Of course, no one is concluded by it, and the only question is, by what proceeding it can be rendered inoperative. Now, I think, the principles of law, and the reason and convenience of the thing, all conspire to prove that the court of general jurisdiction, upon application for administration, is not concluded by a grant of administration by a court having no jurisdiction. For it is a universal rule, that no man’s right of action (and such is an application for administration) can be barred or impeded by a proceeding to which he was not a party. And if the general court could not grant administration to the person really entitled to it, because the hustings court, without jurisdiction, had granted it to another, the party entitled would be barred and precluded of his rights by a sentence which he had no opportunity of contesting.
It is said, however, that debtors might be ignorant of the new grant of administration. It is not necessary now to decide, whether payments made to Scott without actual notice of the revocation of his powers, would have been good. Admitting they would not, and that the grant of the general court was notice to all the world, yet it is not more unreasonable to affect debtors with such notice, than to hold that every person entitled to administration is bound to take notice of an irregular administration. Thus, if A. dies at his mansion house in the county of Wood, and has a debtor in Elizabeth City, the jurisdiction is in Wood county court. Yet if administration be improperly granted in Elizabeth City, it is contended, that the subsequent grant by the proper court is void; that the party applying ought to have known the proceeding in Elizabeth City, and that he is bound by it. I cannot think so. It would be most strange, if a court entitled to act upon a subject should be ousted of its powers, by the unauthorized action of any one of a hundred other courts having no jurisdiction of the subject.
I had anxiously desired to avoid any remarks on this part of the subject, as there is a difference of opinion in the court respecting it. But it is impossible to avoid it, since the action of the court depends essentially on the question. I am happy in being sustained in my views by the decision of the learned judges of the ge
On the merits of the case, I am clearly of opinion, that unless Fisher could shew that Scott had fairly become the purchaser of the debt due to Robinson’s estate, or was in advance to that estate to the amount of the debt, the transaction was such a dealing with the assets as to render the transfer void. The sale of the bonds at so large a discount was itself prima facie a devastavit, and the burden of proof is upon Scott or Fisher, that the necessities of the estate, and not those of the administrator, required the sacrifice. Fisher must have known Scott’s embarrassments. As assignee, he naturally looked to the circumstances of the assignor; and doing so, he must have known his difficulties. Here, then, is a dealer with an administrator—conusant that the claim originally belonged to the intestate’s estate— conusant of its conversion into the form of a private debt to the administrator, and without evidence of its transfer to him by those interested—conusant of the administrator’s great embarrassments—who unites with him in a devastavit of the estate, by discounting paper belonging to it, at the ruinous rate of twenty-five per cent., without evidence, as far as yet appears, of the necessities of the estate requiring such a sacrifice. 1 forbear to comment on the other circumstances which ought to have satisfied Fisher that there was something amiss in the transaction, since it is not necessary. The conversion of the estate debt into a private debt, of which he was aware, was itself a devastavit in law, and the sale of it at a sacrifice was yet more obviously a devastavit in fact. He has enabled the administrator to commit it; and, upon well received doctrines, he must be the loser. Still, as it is possible that Scott may be in advance, and as Fisher will be entitled, in that event, to stand in his shoes, as far as the reimbursement of such advance, I am content to let the cause go back, to give
I agree with the president of the court in the opinion he has just delivered, that the grant of administration to Scott by the hustings court of the city of Richmond, was not a void, but only a voidable act. The distinction between the acts of a court having jurisdiction over the subject matter under some circumstances, and those of one which, in no possible state of things, can take jurisdiction over the subject, is a sound and sufficiently intelligible one to guide our judgments in the present case. If, under any circumstances, the hustings court could grant administration to Scott, it had jurisdiction of the subject, and must judge of those circumstances. If it erred in determining that the facts, upon which its power to grant administration in the particular case depended, were sufficiently proved, it was an error to be corrected by some competent authority; but until so corrected, it conferred upon Scott all the powers of a rightful administrator. The analogy attempted to be drawn between the grant of an administration by the ordinary in England, and such grant by our courts of record, is too imperfect to justify us in encountering all the inconveniences and mischiefs which would result from considering the grant here merely void ; and it would be violating well established principles settled in other cases by the english courts themselves,—as the counsel for the appellees have clearly shewn.
I also agree in the opinion, that there was such a dealing with the assets of Robinson’s estate between Scott and Fisher, as to render the transfer of the bonds by
I also think the court of chancery erred in directing the bonds of Bassett to be cancelled, and the deed of trust to be released. They should stand as securities for the benefit of Fisher, or of those entitled to Robinson's estate.
The only point in which, as at present advised, I am inclined to dissent from the president’s opinion, is as to the effect he gives to the grant of administration by the general court to the sheriff of Middlesex. It seems to me, that this grant was itself a nullity; and that such is the necessary consequence of considering the first grant valid. By the grant to Scott, he was constituted the complete legal owner of the estate of Robinson. He was, for the purposes of administering it, as much the
I should, therefore, be content to reverse the decree, for the reasons indicated by the president; with directions to admit all proper parties interested in the controversy, and to have an account taken of Scott’s administration on Robert Robinso?i’s estate, in order to a final decree.
Cabell, J. expressed no opinion on the point on which the other two judges differed, probably thinking there was no necessity to decide it: but he concurred in the decree proposed by Barker, J. whereby
The decree of the circuit superiour court was reversed with costs, and the cause remanded, with directions to make new parties, and to order an account to be taken of Scott’s administration of Robinson’s estate, in order to a final decree.