10 Pa. 435 | Pa. | 1849
We agree with the Court of Common Pleas, that we must limit our inquiries to the account filed the 21st November, 1848, and, consequently, we are precluded from going behind the confirmation of the last account. The exceptions were filed to that account, and to that alone does the investigation extend. None of the evidence taken by the auditor is relevant to the ease in hand, except that part of it which bears on the imputed mismanagement of the estate during the time embraced in the last period. The settlements were properly made, each and every year, and, when confirmed, were definitive decrees or judgments of the Court of Common Pleas, which are not open to examination except on an appeal, in each case, to the Supreme Court, taken within three years after each decree, under the provisions of the 36th
But it is further contended, that the accountant ought to be charged with at least one thousand dollars more as the income of the last year; that the estate, if well managed, ought to have produced at least that amount. The second and third exceptions are substantially the same. On this point we have some difficulty, for we are not without suspicion that more might have been realized from the estate than is charged in the account; that there has been mismanagement somewhere, although it is impossible to ascertain from the lights before us where the blame properly rests. It seems to be conceded that the principal, Dr. Brown, has strictly accounted for all he received; at least there is neither proof nor allegation to the contrary. Nor is it pretended there is anything exceptionable in the charge for expenditures for the repairs and improvements done to the estate. The exception contains a general charge of mismanagement, supported by proof of the annual value of the estate estimated clear of the pay and living of the principal, and all taxes, repairs, and expenses, at from two thousand to twenty-five hundred dollars per annum. The witnesses, without exception, agree that the property was well farmed, and, so far as they know, well managed, and it is proved that the lots attached to the estate have improved in value under judicious management, and are rented at fair prices. We have the.case of an attempt to surcharge a trustee of real estate, where it is confessed the property has been well farmed and well managed, where, so far as appears, no unnecessary expenses have been incurred, and where he has faithfully accounted for every cent he received, on a general exception of bad management, supported by no other proof than the opinion of son^ witnesses adjoining the estate, of its annual value, and that in their judgment, unassisted by any precise and definite facts, it might, under different treatment, be made to yield more than the amount with which the accountant stands charged. Although, as has been before insinuated, we cannot help believing that less profit has been made from the estate than the friends of the institution had reason to expect, we do not feel ourselves at liberty to indulge in conjecture, so as to charge the accountant with imaginary values; and unless we did, there is nothing tangible, no error sufficiently appa ■
Decree affirmed.