Distributees of Knight v. Godbolt
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the County Court of Mobile County. This proceeding in the County Court was the final settlement of the estate of James Knight, deceased, by Godbolt, administrator de bonis non. Among the items charged against the estate were several promissory notes made by Knight in his life time, to Godbolt, which had been past due for more than six years before the death of Knight. The counsel for the distributee objected to the allowance of those items in the account.
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Appeal from the County Court of Mobile County. This proceeding in the County Court was the final settlement of the estate of James Knight, deceased, by Godbolt, administrator de bonis non. Among the items charged against the estate were several promissory notes made by Knight in his life time, to Godbolt, which had been past due for more than six years before the death of Knight. The counsel for the distributee objected to the allowance of those items in the account. The Court however, admitted them¡ and this is assigned as error. insisted that an administrator is not permitted to take a debt…
1Opinion of the Court
GOLDTHWAITE, J.—
All the elementary treatises upon' the rights and duties of executors and administrators treat of their right to retain, in preference to any other creditor, any debt in equal degree. [Wms. on Ex. 685 ; Toller on Ex. 295; Lomax on Ex. 417.] This was unquestionably the law previous to the enactment of the statutes of limitation, and we are not aware there is any decision afterwards made in the English Courts, which limits this right. Indeed, it would be unreasonable that an administrator should be clothed with the power to charge the estate of his intestate with a debt due to…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Rogers v. RogersCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1829
3Cited by8 opinions
- Sanderson's Administrators v. SandersonSupreme Court of Florida · 1880
- Scott v. WareSupreme Court of Alabama · 1879
- In Re Smith's EstateWashington Supreme Court · 1934
- Trimble v. FarissSupreme Court of Alabama · 1884
- Harwood v. HarperSupreme Court of Alabama · 1875
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