58 Md. 499 | Md. | 1882
delivered the opinion of the Court.
In February, 1869, Thomas Clarke and wife conveyed all their property to Patrick McGolgan in trust, to sell the same at public or private sale, and to apply the proceeds, first, to pay the expenses of the trust, including a reasonable commission to the trustee, second, to pay Mrs. Clarke such sum in lieu of dower as a Court of equity would allow her if the property was sold under its decree, third, then to pay all the debts of Clarke in full, if tbe proceeds are sufficient, and pro rata if insufficient, and fourth, to pay over the residue, if any, to Clarke.
Afterwards, in obedience to an order to that effect, the trustee filed a report stating what property was conveyed by the deed, and the amount he had received for sales, thereof. The case was then referred to the auditor, and after other proceedings which need not he stated in detail,, the auditor reported an account in which the trustee was charged with the sum of $7945.26, being the aggregate amount of sales and interest, and, after a small allowance for other purposes, the sum of $2518.35, is distributed to-the judgment claim of the complainant, leaving a balance
This motion must prevail. In the recent case of Frey, Trustee vs. The Shrewsbury Savings Institution, supra, p. 151, it was determined by this Court that a conventional trustee appointed by deed to sell property and distribute the proceeds among creditors, has the right to appeal where the order complained of affects his commissions, where he is interested as creditor in the fund to be distributed, and where the question of the increase or diminution of the whole fund in his hands is involved, and which increase or diminution inures to the benefit or loss of all the creditors. But where the contest is between creditors, or where the validity or amount of a particular -claim preferred by a creditor is the subject of dispute, the trustee, as such, has no interest in such a controversy, and has no right to intervene and prolong the litigation by taking an appeal. The order appealed from in the case now before us was passed in February, 1881, nearly four years after the filing of the bill. It ratifies the account stated by the auditor, but to that part of the account which charges him with the. amount received from sales the trustee makes no objection, nor in fact could he make any as it is based upon his own admissions. His objection is to so much of the order as fixes the amount of the complainant’s claim and directs it to be paid out of the funds in his hands. But it is very plain that he has no shadow of interest in the determination of that question, unless he shows himself to be a creditor of the trust estate, and a
Appeal dismissed.