Greer v. Ferguson

19 S.W. 966, 56 Ark. 324, 1892 Ark. LEXIS 164
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 11, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 19 S.W. 966 (Greer v. Ferguson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greer v. Ferguson, 19 S.W. 966, 56 Ark. 324, 1892 Ark. LEXIS 164 (Ark. 1892).

Opinion

Hemingway, J.

Por convenience we may divide the judgment below and treat it, first, as a judgment ■against Perguson & Hampson, and, second, as a judgment against the executors of Hanauer.

Prom the-first the plaintiffs alone appeal; and they ■complain at the court’s action in discharging the attachment, and also in refusing to charge a lien upon the land •to secure a judgment in their favor, it being rendered upon a claim for services as attorneys in defending a former suit against the present defendants for the recovery of the land.

Prom the second both parties have appealed ; the plaintiffs because the sum awarded them is too small, and the-executors of Hanauer because there was any recovery against them.

It is insisted that the attachment should have been sustained on the ground that the defendants had fraudulently disposed of the land attached. The act relied upon as evidence of fraud was the making of a mortgage for the land by Perguson in the name of the firm of Perguson & Hampson. It is argued that the mortgage was not a valid conveyance, and that, as it placed a colorable incumbrance upon the land, it had a tendency to hinder and delay the creditors of Perguson & Hampson, and was therefore fraudulent. The mortgage is claimed to have been invalid, first, because the land belonged to the persons composing the firm as tenants in common, ■ and was not the property of the firm. Of this fact there is no proof ; and as the burden of proof was upon the plaintiffs, we must find against them.

i. Power of to^iecutetner deed.

The next reason assigned for its invalidity is, that it was executed by but one of the two partners, and . ... J . this, it is claimed, was beyond his power. As it was executed by one in the presence of the other and with his consent, as security for a firm debt, it was binding upon the firm. Ferguson v. Hanauer, ante, p. 167.

%. Attorney’s lien.

As the claim arose out of services rendered in defending the title to the land, and not in the recovery of the land, the attorneys acquired no lien upon it. Hershey v. DuVal, 47 Ark. 86.

We are therefore of opinion that, upon the abstract and brief filed, no error prejudicial to plaintiffs appears in the judgment, so far as it affects Ferguson & Hampson.

3_ As to re_ tioas against

In considering the judgment in so far as it affects the estate of Hanauer, we are confronted by the question, whether the court could revive the suit in the of his foreign executors so as to render any judgment against them binding upon his estate. After the cause was submitted, we referred this question to counsel for re-argument, and have been furnished with briefs which direct our attention to many authorities. We have examined the citations, and find the question settled by the authority of adjudged cases and of text writers with exceptional unanimity.

It was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Vaughan v. Northup, 15 Pet. 5. Judge Story, after stating the question, says for the court: ‘ ‘ pvery grant of administration is strictly confined in its authority and operation to the limits of the territory of the government which grants it; and does not, de jure, extend to other countries.- It cannot confer, as a matter of right, any authority to collect assets of the deceased in any other State; and whatever operation is allowed to it beyond the original territory of its grant is ■ a mere matter of comity, which every nation is at liberty to yield or to withhold, according, to its own policy and pleasure, with reference to its own institutions and the interests of its own citizens. On the other hand, the administrator is exclusively bound to account for all the assets which he receives under and in virtue of his administration to the proper tribunals of the government from which he derives his authority; and the tribunals of other States have no right to interfere with or to control the application of those assets according to the lex loci. Hence it has become an established doctrine that an administrator appointed in one State cannot, in his official capacity, sue for any debts due to his intestate in the courts of another State; and that he is not liable to be sued in that capacity in the courts of the latter, by any creditor, for any debts due there by his intestate. The authorities to this effect are exceedingly numerous, both in England and America; but it seems to us unnecessary, in the present state of the law, to do more than to refer to the leading principle as recognized by this court in Fenwick v. Sears, 1 Cranch, 259; Dixon's Exrs. v. Ramsay's Exrs. 3 Cranch, 319 ; and Kerr v. Moon, 9 Wheat. 565.” The authority of this case was not impaired by a dissenting opinion, and has been recognized without question by that court as a correct and final statement of the law.

Other courts and text writers have adopted it, and no useful service would be performed by any quotation from them. Sloan v. Sloan, 21 Fla. 589 ; Judy v. Kelley, 11 Ill. 211; McGarvey v. Darnall, 32 Ill. App. 226; Beeler v. Dunn, 3 Head, 87 ; Sparks v. White, 7 Humph. 86; Allsup v. Allsup's Heirs, 10 Yerger, 283; Magraw v. Irwin, 87 Penn. St. 142; Brownlee v. Lockwood, 20 N. J. Eq. 242; Peale v. Phipps, 14 How. 375; Winter v. Winter, Walker (Miss.), 211; Schouler on Exrs. and Admrs. secs 173 and 179 ; Wharton, Confl. of Laws, sec. 616; 1 Woerner, Admr. secs. 157-8 and 160; Story’s Confl. of Laws, sec. 513 ; Caldwell v. Harding, 5 Blatchf. 501; Curle v. Moor, 1 Dana, 445.

The plaintiffs argue that, as the court acquired jurisdiction of Hanauer, it could proceed to a final determination of the case against his foreign executors. We think the law is settled otherwise. The court lost its jurisdiction' of his person by his death, and could proceed to a judgment binding upon his estate only upon a substitution for him of some person lawfully empowered to defend for him. Judy v. Kelley, 11 Ill. 211; McGarvey v. Darnall, 32 Ill. App. 226 ; Rentschler v. Jamison, 6 Mo. App. 135.

It is next argued that since the executors appeared, defended the case and appealed from the judgment, no question of their power to defend for Hanauer’s estate can be raised. A defendant may confer jurisdiction over his own person by consent, but one defendant cannot by his consent confer jurisdiction over the person of another, unless he is by law authorized to represent such other. In this case the executors could not invest themselves with authority to represent Hanauer’s estate denied to them by the laws of the State, nor acquire such authority by merely assuming it.

Further reliance is placed upon the statute of this State which expressly authorizes foreign administrators and executors to sue in its courts as though qualified under its laws ; and it is argued that express authority to sue carries implied authority to be sued for the decedent. It is to be presumed that when the statute was passed the legislature knew that a foreign executor or administrator could neither sue nor be sued in our courts, and we knew of no reason that would warrant us in holding that, as the legislature expressly changed the law in one particular, it intended to change it in the other.

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Bluebook (online)
19 S.W. 966, 56 Ark. 324, 1892 Ark. LEXIS 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greer-v-ferguson-ark-1892.