30 Fla. 347 | Fla. | 1892
The order of the Circuit Court dismissing the appeal does not specify the ground influencing its judgment. Of course it was not necessary that it should do so, but as no attempt is made to sustain his action on the basis of the second ground of the motion, and as the appeal was perfected within the time then prescribed by the statute, sec. 21, p. 328, McClellan’s Digest, that time being “within twenty days after the making of the said judgment, order or decree,” and as the County Judge had no power to limit or extend the time for appealing, and thereby suspend the statute, (Lewis vs. Meginniss, 25 Fla., 589, 6 South. Rep., 169; Jackson vs. Haisley, 27 Fla., 205, 9 South. Rep., 648,) we can not hesitate to assume that the Circuit Judge was not impressed by the second ground, even if it was urged before him.
Nor in our judgment is the other or first ground tenable. The act just referred to authorized appeals from “any final order, judgment or decree.” The purpose of the order in question was to take from the manual possession of the administrator the money referred to therein, $4,989.87, and to place it in the custody of the court, the County Judge. Whether it was his purpose to hold the money in his own hands until he could adjudicate the pro rata of the several creditors, and pay the same to them, or to put it in the custody of some other safe person or repository,
The appellant being entitled, by the law governing the administration of the estates of deceased persons, to retain the possession of the assets of this estate, until it shall become his duty to make payment to the creditors under an order of distribution from which no appeal with supersedeas shall be taken, the palpable effect of the order of the County Judge was to deprive him of a clear legal right, and one which it was his manifest duty to protect-. His own rights and his
The order is final, and not interlocutory. It adjudicates relief of a final character (Bondurant vs. Apperson, 4 Met. Ky., 30), in that it deprives the administrator absolutely of his lawful possession, even assuming that the purpose of the court was to make distribution of the moneys among the creditors after getting possession. It is no mere opinion that such relief should be .given (Hagthorp vs. Hook, 1 Grill & J., 270), but it gives that relief itself, and no further action of the court remains to be had, except the issue of process for its enforcement, even if process is to come from the court. Bondurant vs. Apperson, supra. It determines the litigation between the moving credi
A discussion of the other points raised is not necessary to the decision of. this motion.
It will be' ordered accordingly.