Cooper's Estate

Steakne, J.,

The question before us is whether counsel fees paid in a partition proceeding to an attorney other than counsel for petitioner may be taxed as part of the costs. Exceptant, a respondent, after the proceedings were allowed to lie in abeyance for a considerable time, became active and pressed the matter to a final conclusion. He contends that, upon the inactivity, procrastination and virtual abandonment of the proceedings by the original petitioner, he himself became the real and effective petitioner within the meaning and intent of the Partition Acts, because of his diligence in…