1 Bradf. 125 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1850
The intestate, Emma Hughes, was a British subject, domiciled in England at the time of her death. She was an illegitimate. The Public Administrator now applies for letters of administration; and a similar application is made by Bichard Hughes, a lawful son of Mary Ann Hughes, the mother of the intestate. The basis of my jurisdiction in the matter, rests on the fact that the deceased died possessed of assets in this State.
The rule is now well established, that while the grant of administration follows the law of the place where the estate is to be administered, the distribution of the property is governed by the law of the domicil of the deceased. In what place distribution is to be made, whether the estate is to be collected here, and then remitted to the foreign administrator in bulk to be administered by him, or whether creditors and distributees here, can have their claims and shares paid.here, before the fund is sent abroad, depends upon a variety of circumstances, and must be determined in the exercise of a sound discretion by the Judge, in consonance with certain general rules, but in subjection to the peculiar features of each particular case. But whether administered here, wholly or jtartially, the rule which governs the distribution to the next of kin, is the lex dormcilii. (Williams on Executors, 1301, cmd cases cited m note f.)
Emma Hughes was domiciled in ^ngfand; beings illegitimate, nullAus filia, she had no innm|g!$e Wood ; aim being unmarried, no lawful kindred. fSne could h|^ np legal kindred, except lineal descendant; ’£]¿fcih§'mo lei^fil ancestors, she could have no collateral relatives (Colvin vs. Proc. General, 1 Hagg., 92.) By the law ofjEngland, therefore, Bichard Hughes had no right to a distributive share in the estate of the deceased, and consequently cannot be entitled to letters of administration here.
But the question naturally arises, what becomes of this estate % There is an absolute obstruction of the course of succession. In such a case it was formerly held (Salk., 37) that the Ordinary could seize the goods of the intestate, and dispose of them m pios usus, but it now seems the King is entitled to them as ultmrms Imres, subject to the payment of the debts (Megit vs. Johnson, 2 Doug., 548); but it has become the practice to grant letters patent, transferring the right of the crown, with a reservation of a tenth, or some other charge; and the grantee of course takes administration. (Williams on Executors, 357; Jones vs. Goodchild, 3 P. Wms., 33; Rutherford vs. Maule, 4 Hagg., 215; State vs. Tyndall, 2 Cas. Temp., Lee, 394; Taylor vs. Haygarth, 14 Simon., 8; Cave vs. Roberts, 8 Simon., 215.)
I do not understand, however, that the goods of an intestate who leaves no relatives, go to the crown by virtue of any title. The case is by no means analogous to that of real estate, where the blood of the person last seized being extinct, and the inheritance having failed, the land
I do not find, however, any case which has carried the fiction that mobilia segwwnt/wr personam, to such an extent, as by an imaginative process to suppose the effects, which are in fact in Hew-York, to be in England, for the sake of subjecting them to an imaginative seizure there, for the
If the crown, however, have any rights in this case, the claim is not represented before me. Applications for grants in such instances are addressed to the “ liberality of the crown” (4 Hagg., 213), and it is usual to take security from the grantees, “ to refund in case any person should appear
It is insisted, however, in favor of his right to administer, that there being no one entitled to a distributive share of this estate in England, it ought to be distributed according to our law. 1 cannot see how this is possible. Had Emma Hughes been domiciled here, her estate would have been distributed according to our law. Formerly, the property of an illegitimate, who died intestate, unmarried and without descendants, passed to the State. By the Act of 1845 (Loads 1845, c. 236), it was provided, that “ it the deceased shall have been an illegitimate, and have left , a mother, and no child, or descendant, or widow, such mother shall take the whole surplus, and shall be entitled to letters of administration in exclusion of all other persons ; and if the mother of such deceased shall be dead, the relatives of the deceased on the part of the mother,