Citation Numbers: 1 Redf. 323
Filed Date: 7/1/1853
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2022
The Surrogate. — This is not a case contemplated by the statute of 1847, chapter 80. It is rather a question of contract to be settled by evidence, than a case of compromising or compounding a debt. Although the terms of the act are general and' comprehensive, we are not at liberty-to shut our eyes to the facts and circumstances surrounding it and which occasioned its passage. We must consider, in its construction, what the old law was, the evil under it, and the remedy intended to be applied by the Legislature. Prior to its enactment, executors and administrators could not compound
Admitting the court to possess jurisdiction, which it disbelieves, still there would be an indelicacy, if not impropriety, in the case of solvent demands, for the court to step in between the administrators and the persons entitled to the estate, in advance of a final settlement.