47 Kan. 277 | Kan. | 1891
Opinion by
This is an application in habeas corpus, brought in this court by A. A. Hyde, who claims to be illegally restrained of his liberty by an order of commitment made by the court of common pleas of the county of Sedgwick as for contempt, to enforce an order of that court. Hyde is one of the administrators with the will annexed of the estate of one W. C. Woodman, deceased. The order of the court of common pleas that he refused to obey, on which refusal the order of commitment was issued, was one made in an action against the executors of the estate of Woodman, commanding him to deliver to a receiver appointed in that action the property described in the order belonging to said estate. The material facts are, that in his life-time W. C. Woodman was engaged in the banking, loan and investment business in the city of Wichita, under the name of W. C. Woodman & Son, otherwise the First Arkansas Valley Bank. W. C. Woodman was, the sole owner of the business. Woodman died on the 27th day of December, 1887, having disposed of all his property by a will that was probated on the 14th day of January, 1888; and on that day Elizabeth Woodman, his widow, and W. S. Woodman and U. S. Grant Woodman, his sons, were qualified as executors, having been named as such in the will. By the express provisions of the will, all the property, real, personal, and mixed, of the deceased, except the homestead occupied by the family, was devised to the executors in trust as the capital of the First Arkansas Valley Bank of W. C. Woodman & Son, and the executors were directed to continue said banking business for the term of 20 years after the death of the said W. C. Woodman.
It seems, from a cursory examination of the terms of the will, that the conduct and management of the banking business to be conducted by the executors was one of almost unlimited discretion on their part. There seem to be no limitations or
The principal contention of the attorneys for the petitioner is based upon the assertion that the court of common pleas of Sedgwick county had no jurisdiction to entertain the action of the Kansas City bank, and to appoint the receiver; that the claim of the bank was one against the estate of Woodman, of which the probate court of Sedgwick county had primary and exclusive original jurisdiction. On the other side, it is said that the claim of the Kansas City bank is one against the Woodman bank, and not against the Woodman estate; that it originated long after the death of Woodman, and is not a claim
“The district courts of the state have jurisdiction concurrent with the probate courts over certain matters relating to the estates of deceased persons; and, in the exercise of their equity or chancery jurisdiction, the district courts may entertain and determine actions to foreclose mortgages where the defendant is a legal representative of a deceased person, or any other proper proceeding over the estates of deceased persons, and over the legal representatives and heirs of decedents.”
It is further said in that case, that the district courts of this state have full chancery powers, and that courts of equity have always had a paramount jurisdiction over the estates of deceased persons; that these powers are not taken away by the statutes regulating the duties and defining the powers and jurisdiction of the probate court. This has been maintained in many other cases, and it must be held to be settled law in this state that, when certain facts exist, growing out of the liabilities of a deceased person, or it may be arising out of the settlement of the estate of a deceased person, wherein the probate court, by reason of its limited jurisdiction and restricted authority, cannot protect and enforce the rights of all persons involved in the controversy, the equitable power of the district court may be invoked in their behalf. In the case of the Kansas City Bank v. Elizabeth Woodman et al., out of which this controversy grows, there are two questions that sufficiently support the jurisdiction of the district court to entertain the action. One of these is, that the claim sued upon is not one
By the Court: It is so ordered.