In re Estate of Todarello

15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 593, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 147
CourtMahoning County Probate Court
DecidedDecember 23, 1913
StatusPublished

This text of 15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 593 (In re Estate of Todarello) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mahoning County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Estate of Todarello, 15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 593, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 147 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1913).

Opinion

Davis, J.

Heard on motion to:revoke letters of administration and remove administrator.

Francesco Todarello, deceased, at the time of his death was a subject of Italy, residing at Lowellville, Mahoning county, Ohio, and left surviving him as his only heirs at law” and next of kin Guiseppe Todarello, a brother, residing at Lowellville, O.; also Mary Todarello, Committa Todarello, Carmela Todarello, as sisters, and Nincenzo Marabetti, half-brother, all of whom are subjects and residents of Italy.

Guiseppe Todarello, brother of decedent living in this country and within the jurisdiction of this court, made application for and qualified as administrator of the estate herein on or about the 12th day of September, 1913.

On or about October 13, 1913, Biagio Saneetta filed his motion' herein alleging that Nicola Cerri is the duly appointed and [594]*594qualified consular agent of the Kingdom of Italy in and for Northern Ohio, including Mahoning county; that the said Nicola Cerri is temporarily absent from the United States and that during said absence, he, the said Biagio Sancetta, is the duly appointed, qualified and acting consular agent of Northern Ohio including Mahoning county, and prays for the removal of the administrator herein and that as acting consul, he be appointed instead of said administrator, and complains 'as follows:

“First. That as such acting consular agent by virtue of the treaty of 1911 between Sweden and the United States, which-he has a right to invoke under the most favored nation clause of the treaty of 1878 between the Kingdom of Italy and the United States, he has the paramount and exclusive right to administer the estate herein.
“Second. That by virtue of the treaty of 1878 between Italy and the United States, he was entitled to notice from this court before the legal appointment of an administrator could have been made herein; that no notice was given. ’ ’

In support of the motion as to the alleged exclusive right of the Italian consul to administer the estate herein, there has been cited as construing that right in said treaty of Sweden the case of Rocco v. Thompson, decided by Judge Day of the Supreme Court of the United States; and the decisions of other inferior courts that have based their opinions on an erroneous construction of Judge Day’s obiter dictum, in that case, as to rights of consuls under the treaty of 1911 between Sweden and the United States.

In the case of Rocco v. Thompson, Rocco, an Italian consul within and for certain portions of the state of California, taking advantage of the Argentine treaty of 1853, by virtue of the most favored nation clause of the treaty of 1878 between the Kingdom of Italy and the United States claimed the right as against Thompson, public administrator of California, to administer the estate of Giuseppe Ghio, an Italian subject dying intestate in the state of California. Judge Day, in holding against the contention of the consul and in favor of the appointment of the .public administrator, says:

[595]*595“It is further to be observed that treaties are the subject of careful consideration before they are entered into, and are drawn by persons competent to express their meaning and to choose apt words in which to embody the purposes of the high contracting parties. Had it been the intention to commit the administration of estates of citizens of one country, dying in another, exclusively to the counsul of the foreign nation, it would have been very easy to have declared that purpose in unmistakable terms.
“For instance, where that was the purpose, as in the treaty made with Peru in 1887, it was declared in Article 33, as follows:
“ ‘Until the conclusion of a consular convention which the high contracting parties agree to form as soon as may be mutually convenient, it is stipulated, that in the absence of the legal heirs or representatives the consuls or vice-consuls of either party shall be ex-officio the executors or administrators of the citizens of their nation who may die within their consular jurisdictions, and of their countrymen dying at sea, whose property may be brought within their district.”

Following the above quotation, from the Peru treaty, by Judge Day, in his opinion in the Rocco v. Thompson case, to illustrate exclusive power given to a consul by treaty, in contract with the language of the Argentine treaty which simply gives as he holds the right to intervene by taking possession of and preserving, property of his subjects, before the appointment of an administrator, and .also to intervene after an administrator has been appointed if administration was not being properly conducted for the purpose of further protecting the estate of the deceased subject of his country, he quotes the second paragraph of Article XIV of the treaty between Sweden and the United States, which language is as follows:

“In the event of any citizens of either of the contracting-parties dying without will or testament, in the territory of the other contracting parties the consul-general, consul, vice consul-general of the nation to which the deceased may belong, or in his absence, the representative of such consul-general, consul, vice consul-general or vice-consul, shall, so far as the laws of each country will permit and pending the appointment of an administrator and until letters of administration have been [596]*596granted, take charge of the property left by the deceased, for the benefit of his lawful heirs and creditors, and moreover, have the right to be appointed as administrator of such estate.”

But before quoting from the Sweden treaty and after quoting from the Peru treaty, he uses the following language: “and in the convention -between the United States and Sweden proclaimed March 20th, 1911, it is provided.”

. Judge Day does not state here in his introduction to- the quotation from the Sweden treaty that there is an exclusive right as he does in his introduction to the quotation from the Peru treaty by using the words “as where that was the purpose.” The antecedent of the'words “as where that was the purpose” being “had it been the intention to commit the administration of estates of citizens of one country, dying in -another, exclusively to the consul of the foreign nation, it would have been very easy to have declared that purpose in unmistakable terms. ’ ’ If Judge Day had so intended that there was -an exclusive right in the consul to administer by virtue of the language in the Sweden treaty, he would have so stated before quoting it as he did before quoting the clause from the Peru treaty; or would have immediately followed the clause quoted from the Peru treaty with the clause quoted from the Sweden treaty and made his first introduction to said quotations plural. Judge Day, in my opinion, in quoting from the Peru and from the Sweden treaty attempted to illustrate what he had stated in the prior part of his opinion, that treaties are drawn by persons competent to express their meaning and that nothing should be added to or taken away from the language of said 'treaties. That is, he aimed to point out (1) that in the Argentine treaty there was, by virtue, of the language of said treaty .absolutely no right whatever in the consul under said treaty to administer estates but simply to intervene and protect estates.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 593, 1913 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-todarello-ohprobctmahonin-1913.