Mathews v. DeFoor

1. “By the Civil Code (1910), § 3886, it is declared that if any person, without authority of law, wrongfully meddles with, or converts to his own use, the personalty of a deceased individual, whose estate has no legal representative, he shall be held and deemed an executor in his own wrong, and as such shall be liable to the creditors and heirs, or legatees of such estate, for double the value of ‘the property so possessed or converted by him.’ The double liability imposed is in the nature of a penalty for meddling with or converting the personalty of a deceased person after his death and…