11 N.J.L. 44 | N.J. | 1829
The defendant in certiorari, William McVickar, as administrator of Archibald McVickar, dec., exhibited in the year 1807, in the Orphans’ Court of the county of Morris, -an account of his administration, and obtained an order for the sale of certain parts of the real estate of the decedent, for the payment of debts, for which the personal estate appeared to the court to be insufficient. Under this order he made sale
The account of July, 1826, and the order for sale, having been brought here by certiorari, a number of reasons have been assigned for setting them aside.
I. The first reason is, “ that the said Orphans’ Court in the said final account allowed and decreed sundry items alleged to be paid by the said administrator prior to March Term, 1807, of said Orphans’ Court, when his account was stated, and not included in that account.”
This objection is raised on the broad position, that no item omitted in the former account, no credit or matter of discharge, however just, which existed at the time the .first and partial account was exhibited and passed, and which was not therein included and allowed, can be made a subject ■of credit or allowance in the subsequent account. This position, in its full extent, is not sound. If by mistake, or other just and sufficient cause shewn to the court, an omission has taken place in an account thus exhibited, especially an account appearing on the face of it to be partial and not final, such omission may be corrected, and just allowance made to the administrator in his subsequent or final account. It is true, the court, when called on to make
2. The second reason is, “ that the Orphans’ Court allowed the said administrator and decreed sundry sums of money without setting forth for or on what account the same were paid, and also sundry sums of money for which no receipts were produced, without setting forth, when paid, to whom or for what.”
To the first branch of this reason an answer is found in the ancient practice of the Orphans’ Court, long sanctioned by use, experience and convenience. The items of account are, almost necessarily, expressed in very general terms. A statement, if brief, would furnish no useful information, and if minute and in detail would swell the account to an enormous and at the same time useless and unprofitable bulk. Before the account can be passed or sanctioned by the court, all who are interested have the ^opportunity [*4.7 to examine if; and if suitable explanation is withheld or unsuccessfully sought, an exception to the account will require the accountant to sustain it by vouchers and proofs. In respect to the want of receipts, the feet on which the question is raised is not made out. It is not shewn that any item in the final account was allowed without the production of a receipt or other proper proof of its payment. On careful scrutiny I am unable to find any room for even an inference or presumption that any such allowance was made by the court. No one was particularly designated by the counsel on the argument.
3. The third reason is, “ that the Orphans’ Court allowed to the said administrator and decreed sundry sums of money for intere.st on money paid by the said administrator for and on account of the estate of the said deceased.”
The payment of the principal sums by the administrator, and the propriety of charging them in the account, are not,
In the amount, however, of the interest allowed, or in other words in the time up to which the calculation was extended, I think the court'erred. All obstacle to the settlement of the estate was removed on the decease of the widow McVickar. The administrator should have then promptly proceeded. He had a decree remaining unexecuted for the sale of a certain portion of the real estate, and he might at once have made application for further sales if necessary. If he had promptly proceeded he might perhaps have been entitled to carry on the interest until the sales had placed him in funds. But he stood still when he might have advanced : — and the interest ought not to be allowed to accumulate during .a single hour of inexcusable neglect or delay. The Orphans’ Court allowed him one year’s interest from the decease of the widow, and this one year’s interest I deem an erroneous excess.
4. The fourth reason assigned, is, “ that the court decreed an allowance to the said administrator of a bond of the deceased to Abraham Cooper, taken up and paid at different times, or assumed to be paid; and because the said court allowed the interest on the said bond.”
The facts, that this bond was given by the deceased, was a just demand against him, and was paid by the administrator, are not questioned. The payment is alleged in the account, and no evidence is offered here, even if it were admissible, to shew the account incorrect in point of fact. What has already been said on the topic of interest in general is in a great measure applicable here and need not be repeated. More than the amount of the penalty does not appear to have been paid by the administrator; and the circumstances of the case fairly bring it within the exceptions to the general rule admitted to exist even by those authorities, which as a general rule, limit the recovery of interest to the amount of the penalty.
*50] *7. The seventh reason is, “ that in 1807 the court granted the administrator an order to sell five tracts of land; that four only had been sold; and nothing appears to shew that the fifth tract remaining unsold, is insufficient to raise the sum requisite for the payment of the debts.”
On the other hand there is nothing to shew that the fifth tract is sufficient for the purpose. The act of the legislature directs the Orphans’ Court to order the sale of so much of the real estate as will be sufficient for the payment of the debts. In the present case the court have ordered the sale of other real estate besides the fifth lot, of the whole farm' whereof that lot is a parcel. As it is the duty of the court to ascertain and decide whether a sale of the whole is necessary, or whether the sale of part will suffice, wo are bound to presume in the absence of any proof to the contrary, that the sale of a part was insufficient for the required purpose, and of the whole was necessary. Perhaps, indeed, on certiorari, we are precluded from any enquiry into the facts decided by the Orphans’ Court, and concluded in that respect by their determination.
8. The eighth reason is, “ that the Orphans’ Court could not make the second order for sale, because the first order remained unexecuted.” The residue of this eighth reason as filed, not having been urged on the argument, needs not to be adverted to.
Assuming that the court had authority to make a second order for sale, which is to be examined under another head, the fact that the first order remained in part unexecuted formed no legal barrier to the exercise of this authority. The proper enquiry was in respect to the adequacy of the first order to the exigency of the case. Was the part thereby directed to be sold sufficient for the payment of the debts ? If not, to avoid hurtful delay, would alone have been a sufficient motive for promptly making the second
The doctrine maintained by the counsel for the plaintiff' under this head, is that in respect to the real estate of a decedent, the Orphans’ Court can make but one order or *51] decree for sale. One *order being made, all power or authority of the court, they say, ceases.
There is nothing in the act of the legislature which so-circumscribes the power of the court; which either directly or indirectly imposes this limitation; and every motive of expedience and convenience forbids so rigorous a construction. In the letter of the act, there is not, it must be-admitted, any limitation of the authority of the court to a. single order. Nor is there any in the spirit of the act. The whole, if necessary, of the lands, tenements, hereditaments and real estate of the testator or intestate, are placed under the power of the court for the payment of the debts-The power then is not exhausted until on the one hand the whole estate is disposed of, or on the other, all the debts-are satisfied. The only anxiety in the legislature seems to-have been, that no more of the lands 'should be sold than-the payment of the debts would require; that part only should be sold if part would suffice; but their intention is equally clear, that the whole should be used if a smaller portion would not subserve the end in view. * A prudent and discreet execution of the duty confided to the Orphans’’ Court, may often render a second order of sale indispensable for the final settlement of the estate. The evident policy of the statute is to sell no more of the real estate than is strictly necessary. No more shall be sold, says the 24th section, than shall be necessary to pay the residue of the-debts. Governed by this policy, the court are to order apart only, and to specify the part, when in their judgment-
10. The tenth reason is, “ that the said Orphans’ Court made the said order to sell the said homestead farm, wholly or partly, to pay the balance due to the said administrator, whereas the said court have authority only' to sell to pay the debts of the said deceased; and because there were no debts of the deceased to pay.”
• As already mentioned the avails of the personal estate and of the real estate sold under the first order, were insufficient to discharge the debts. The residue was satisfied by the administrator to the creditors, either by his personal responsibility, or by actual payments out of his own funds. The reality of the debts and their payment by the .administrator are not indeed controverted either in the rea.sons filed or upon the argument at’the bar. The fact is abundantly shewn, not only by the account as stated under the *53] direction *of the Orphans’ Court, but in the abstract ■of the evidence which has been submitted to us. One of the witnesses testified that in the old lady’s life time, they, the plaintiff in certiorari, and others of the heirs, used to talk of the administrator having a claim upon the estate after the old lady’s death, for his paying money. Another testified, that Duncan McVickar said, when an attempt was made to ■settle, in November preceding the exhibition of the account to the surrogate, “ that 'he thought interest should be cast only up to his mother’s death.” “ It was not denied that the account was correct. The amount was only more than was expected.” He farther testified, that George Forsyth, acting for the plaintiff, and Duncan McVickar, stated the account and rejecting all the interest, made a balance due
How whether these debts remained due to the several •creditors, or whether they were paid to the creditors by the administrator from his own funds, they were still in truth .and substance the debts of the estate. To replace tho moneys which the administrator had advanced, would still be to pay the debts of the estate. Whether the sale was made to put him in funds to discharge the debts, or to reimburse him what he had actually paid, the object was the same, the payment of the debts; the limit was the same, the amount of the debts; and if good faith was preserved by tho administrator, the effect on the estate and on the interests of those concerned was precisely the same. The watchful eye of the court should overlook the conduct of the administrator, perhaps even with jealousy, when he claimed to have made advances, but if his motives were pure and the advances actually made in good faith, and under circumstances reasonable and prudent, a discharge of the debts by him to the creditors could work no such extraordinary *change as to preclude the application of the [*54 estate to the very same end, though in different hands, to which the policy of the law had subjected it. In Livingston v. Newkirk, 3 John. C. R. 318, Chan. Kent said, — “ If the personal assets prove deficient, and the executor pays •out of his own money to the value of the land, and the
In this reason then, I do not find any ground to disturb the decree for sale.
11. The eleventh reason is, “ that it appears by the accounts of the said administrator, that all, or nearly all, the debts of the deceased, and claims of the said administrator, are barred by the statute of limitations.”'
It does not appear that these debts, or any of them, were barred at the time they were paid by the administrator. So' far as respects the original creditors then, there is no ground for this objection. Whether the lapse of time can prevail against the administrator, will depend on the question now to be examined; whether the present order for sale was applied for within reasonable and legal time, and the delay has been satisfactorily accounted for.
12. The twelfth reason brings this subject before us. Ii is, “ that the order for sale was not applied for within a reasonable time after the death of the said Archibald McVicker.”
Under the consequences, flowing from all these circumstances, the conclusion of the Orphans’ Court seems a very sound one, that the administrator acted in perfect good faith, and especially when we see him, instead of selling the estate at all hazard, for whatever it might produce, and at any sacrifice, laboring to serve the interest of the heirs, exerting himself to provide for the debts out of his own resources, “ embarrassing himself to pay the debts,” as one of the heirs said, and in the language of another, “ puzzling himself to settle the estate.” In enquiring into the effect *of the lapse of time, it should also be remembered [*59 that the -whole real property remained in the hands of the heirs. Some transfers had been made among themselves, which will hereafter be noticed, but no part had passed from them into the hands of strangers.
13. The thirteenth reason is, “ that the order to sell the homestead farm includes lands of the deceased sold before the said order or decree was made by certain of the heirs to Margaret Liddel, the plaintiff.”
This reason rests upon the basis that the conveyances by the heirs, passed a valid title to their alienees; for otherwise no conclusion could be drawn that the conveyances-ought in any wise to impede the making by the Orphans’ Court of the solicited order. A question of title is then-necessarily raised by this exception before that court. Now it is clear that court has no power or authority to hold plea-of title, or to decide on the nature, -validity or effect of conveyances. It is moreover clear that an order of the-Orphans’ Court, 'and even a sale 'under it, would not destroy or disturb those conveyances, if legally made, or in-other words, if the heirs had right so to convey as to preclude a subsequent sale under the authority of the Orphans’" Court. In such case, if that court had entered into the-question of title, and pronounced the conveyances invalid,. *60] and made an order" for sale, the title of *t-he grantees-would not, from want of jurisdiction in the Orphans’ Court,, have been by such determination and decree destroyed. The result is, that the grantees in those conveyances, are-
These remarks apply to the conveyances of Vantuyl and wife, and Duncan McVickar. The sale and conveyance made by the administrator himself, present different considerations. The propriety of granting him an order for the-sale of the share already sold by him, or of including that share in the order for sale, does not turn on the question of title. This sale was made by him after he had discharged the debts of the estate, and thereby placed himself in the stead of the creditors, so that whatever afterwards was to he raised and paid out of the estate, was in truth to be paid to him. As heir, he sold this share of the real estate, lie thereby became answerable to the creditors to the value of the lands thus sold.’ Rev. Laws, 291, see. 2. But- he is himself the creditor. Being then the hand both to pay and to receive, the portion of the debt which this share of the land might otherwise be chargeable with, ought to be deemed extinguished, and an order ought not to be granted to him for the sale of it. If his original sale is valid, and would prevail against a sale made under an order of the Orphans’ Court, if such order were now granted, no injustice whatever is done to him in refusing him such order, as it would avail him nothing; and as he has already raised by sale, in another capacity, whatever the land should he-charged with, and the amount having been received by him, is already in the place where it ought to go if a sale were now to be made; if the original sale was not valid, but would be overruled by a sale under the order of the Orphans’’ Court, to refuse such order is to prevent the gross injustice which would he wrought by enabling him by a second sale, to place the value a second time in his own purse. In the case, ex parte Allen, already cited, the sale of real estate to-
*61] *It appears to me, therefore, that the Orphans’ Court should not have included this share of land in the •order for sale, and should not have authorized the administrator to raise, by sale, the proportionate part of the amount of debts remaining unsatisfied.
14. The fourteenth reason is, “ that the court allowed beside the charge of court and surrogate’s fees on the settlement of the account, seventy-five dollars for the expenses •of the five judges for six days, and the counsel fees which were paid by the administrator to his counsel.”
In the former of these allowances, I think the court •erred. The expenses of the judges is utterly indefensible. Not a shadow of support for it can be found in any act of the legislature; I am aware that in some parts of the state instances have occurred and perhaps for a long time, in which, at special courts, the expenses of the judges or a fixed allowance for them, have been borne by the parties, yet I presume in all cases, by express agreement. And perhaps these instances may be defended on the maxim, ■volenti non fit injuria; but such charge can never be imposed on any party against his consent, so long as it is utterly destitute of legal sanction. To the allowance of the fees paid to counsel I find no sufficient objection. Although some alterations in the account were made by the Orphans’ Court, yet in the most material matters excepted to, the account was supported.
Having thus examined and disposed of all the reasons .assigned for setting aside the decree and order for sale, one interesting and important enquiry yet remains, what under the opinions expressed is to be done with them ? To reverse them entirely and send the parties back to commence a new •course of litigation, would, if any other legal measure can be adopted, be doing to them great injury. The proper
*In the present case we have on deliberation, con- [*62 eluded we may lawfully and rightfully adopt the following course of proceeding. If the administrator thinks proper to remit the interest for one year, which is charged on the several items of account, subsequent to the balance struck on the 15th of September, 1809; and also two-seventh parts of the residue, being the proportion of the farm sold by- him as one of the heirs; and also the expenses of the judges— we shall order that the decree on the account and the order for sale as to the residue, be affirmed as to five-seventh parts of the real estate, and reversed as to the other two-seventh parts — being the part sold by him as heir; and without costs. If the administrator decline to make the remission above specified, we shall order that the decree and order for sale be entirely set aside and reversed.
Justice Drake did not sit in this cause, having been, while at the bar, of counsel with one of the parties.