Ex-parte Lee

This appeal is from the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore City, and the question is, whether the surviving husband of a deceased wife, who died intestate and without children or descendants, and owing no debts, is required to obtain letters of administration upon the estate of his deceased wife, to enable him to collect a chose in action due the wife at the time of her death.

The facts of the case are these, as presented by the record. Mrs. Sarah H. Lee, the wife of William Lee, the appellant, died intestate on the 24th of December, 1891, leaving no children or descendants; and, as it is alleged,…