Stauch Estate

Dissenting Opinion by

Me. Justice Roberts:

I must dissent from the majority’s decision that the orphans’ court division was correct in holding, in 1971, that a fine, imposed in 1949 as part of a final judgment of sentence, abates upon the death of the defendant. The majority’s determination, in my view, suffers from two basic errors, one jurisdictional, the other substantive.

I

The majority, without specifically addressing the issue, concludes that the orphans’ court division has jurisdiction to vacate a final judgment of sentence, imposing a fine, of a court of oyer and terminer.1 The…