82 Ga. 412 | Ga. | 1889
James L. Brown, administrator de bonis non, etc. of Dawson, brought his action against Thomas N, Poullain, as surety on the administrator’s bond of Seabrook, and also brought another action against Poullain and Ann C. Davis, administratrix of her husband, as sureties on another administrator’s bond of Seabrook. Both cases, involving the same issues, were consolidated in the court below. The plaintifi recovered, and the defendants made a motion for a new trial on the several grounds set out therein, which motion was overruled ; and they excepted.
The main ground relied on "by counsel for the plaintiffs in error for reversal of the court below, was alleged error in the following charge of the court to the jury, and the exclusion of certain evidence hereinafter detailed : “ The court charges you that an administrator has, by law, no authority to ship or remove beyond the limits of this State property in his hands belonging
It appears from the record in this case that Seabrook, the administrator, in the year 1866, undertook to ship a certain number of bales of cotton belonging to the estate of his intestate, from Albany, Georgia, to Liverpool ; that after the cotton had been placed on board the steamer at Albany, and the steamer had started down the river to Apalachicola, it ran upon a snag and sank, and the cotton was lost. Seabrook, in his returns to the court of ordinary of Dougherty county, attached to the returns an explanation, and gave his reasons for shipping the cotton to Liverpool. These reasons, in substance, were, that he thought it was for the best interest of the estate to make the shipment, because he could obtain a much better price in Liverpool than in the markets of Georgia, and that he was fearful that the cotton would be seized by the treasury agents of the general government. On the trial of the present case in the court below, Colonel Billups was offered by the defendants as a witness to prove that he had attempted about the same time to ship cotton to Liverpool, where it was worth 51 cents per pound, and that he was led to do so by reason of danger of seizure by the United States government, and the prospect of better prices ; that frequent seizures were made all through Georgia by persons claiming to be agents of the government, resulting in loss to those whose cotton was seized. This evidence
It is insisted by counsel for the plaintiffs in error
The law did not mean, in our opinion, by this exception to allow administrators at their discretion to send annual crops to any markets but those in the jurisdiction of the State. It could not mean to allow them, at their discretion, to send crops beyond the jurisdiction of the State. If an administrator could send to Liverpool at his discretion, there is no reason why. he should not send to Italy, Russia or China. The law requires him to make annual returns to the court of ordinary, and if he should sell annual crops, he is required, when his return is made, to submit vouchers to the ordinary, showing the quantity of cotton, the price at which it was sold, the name of the purchaser and the time of sale. Code, §2529. The sale of the annual crops being a private sale, this provision was doubtless made to compel the administrator to make a full showing in regard to such sale, in order that persons interested in the estate might for themselves examine into the sale. If the law is complied with, full data are given to all persons interested, whereby they can make this exam
Nor would the fact that the administrator was shipping the cotton in order to prevent its being seized by the treasury agents of the government, relieve him. The presumption is that cotton seized by the agents of the 'government is legally seized; if illegally seized, the administrator would have his remedy. No court could countenance such an excuse as this; no court could hold that any person would be justified in running property away to avoid seizure by the government.
If these views are sound, of course the court did not err in refusing to give the contrary principle in charge, as complained of in the 9th ground of the'motion for a new trial; nor in ruling out -the evidence of Billups as complained of in the 12th ground, or the evidence of Yason to the same effect as complained of in the 7th
Judgment affirmed.