In re Henriques

5 N.M. 169
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 21, 1889
DocketNo. 293
StatusPublished

This text of 5 N.M. 169 (In re Henriques) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Henriques, 5 N.M. 169 (N.M. 1889).

Opinion

Beeves, J.

This is an appeal from the action of the district court of Valencia county in quashing the writ of certiorari and dismissing the case at the costs of the appellant. It appears from the petition of the appellant that he was appointed administrator de bonis non of the estate of Manuel A. Otero, deceased, by the probate court of Valencia county, on the tenth day of September, 1883. Afterward, on the twenty-first day of October, 1885, the probate court revoked and canceled his letters of administration. From this action of the probate court Henriques prayed an appeal to the district court, which was granted. The probate court fixed the amount of the bond to be given by Henriques to stay the proceedings upon the order of the court revoking-his letters at $150,000. Appellant alleges in his petition for a writ of certiorari that the evidence before the probate court was insufficient to justify the action of the court in revoking his letters. He claims that his-appeal operated to stay the proceedings of the court, or, in any event, he was entitled to a stay of such proceedings upon the filing of such ahondas would reasonably be sufficient to secure all damages and costs which might, accrue to the estate of the intestate, Manuel A. Otero. He charges that the order fixing the amount of the bond at $150,000 was made for the purpose of depriving him of his office of administrator, by making it impossible-for him to furnish a bond in that amount; that he was. able and willing to give such bond as should reasonably be required of him to stay the proceedings. He denies the jurisdiction of the court to require a bond of $150,-000. He states that the total cash value of the personal assets of the estate did not exceed $25,000; that he was under a good and sufficient bond in the sum of $100, 000 for the safe custody and -disposition of the estate, and prays for a writ of certiorari to remove the cause-from the probate court into the district court. Afterward, on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1885, the writ of certiorari was issued according to the prayer of the petition, and bond given by the petitioner in the sum of $25,000 to obtain a stay of the proceedings upon the order of removal, and conditioned to prosecute the writ without delay, and with effect, and to pay all costs and damages which might be adjudged against him by reason of the stay of such proceedings. Thereafter, at a regular term of the district court, on the twelfth, day of April, 1886, the writ of certiorari was quashed by the court, and the cause dismissed. From this judgment of the district court the appellant prayed and obtained an appeal to the supreme court, and, having filed his affidavit and bond, the judgment was stayed. until the. cause should be decided by the supreme court.

The appellant assigns as errors to his prejudice in this cause the action of the district court in sustaining the motion to quash the writ of certiorari, and dismissing the cause. First, that the writ of certiorari was properly granted, and was the appropriate remedy to reach and review the wrongful action of the probate court, and the judge thereof; second, that the persons who made this motion were not parties to the record, and had no standing in court which entitled them to be heard on such a motion; third, that if the motion was properly made, it amounted in law to a demurrer to the petition, and admitted the truth of all the allegations of the petition for certiorari; fourth, that the allegations of the petition for certiorari, if true, entitled the petitioner to the relief demanded; fifth, the order of the probate judge, requiring petitioner to give any bond to stay the execution of the order removing him, was and is without jurisdiction, and void; sixth, the action of the probate judge in requiring the petitioner to give a bond in the sum of $150,000 to stay the execution of an order removing him, was an abuse of discretion, which the appellant was entitled to have reviewed in the district court by certiorari. The authorities relied on to sustain the foregoing propositions are the following. By the statute of this territory (Comp. Laws, 1884, sec. 531) it is provided: “The district courts, in the several counties in which they may be held, shall have power and jurisdiction as follows: * * * Third. Appellate jurisdiction from the judgments and orders of the probate judges and justices of the peace in all cases not prohibited by law, and shall possess a superintending control over them.” And by section 563 it is provided: “Appeals from the judgments of the probate court shall be allowed to the district court in the same manner, and subject to the same restriction, as in case of appeals from the district to the supreme court. ” Appeals from the district court to the supreme court are regulated by sections 2185-2187; and by section 2187 it is provided: “Upon the appeal being made, the- district court shall make an order allowing the same. Such allowance shall stay the execution in the following cases, and no others: First. When the appellant shall be executor' or administrator, and the action by, or against, him as such.” It is insisted that the appellant in this case is an administrator, and that the proceeding to remove was against him as such, and that he, on the facts stated in the petition, was entitled to an appeal and a stay of execution without the execution of any bond.

administrator: bond on appeal, In the case of Wade v. Colonization Society, 4 Smedes & M. (Miss.) 670, the distinction in the cases where a party sues as administrator, or executor, or personally, is clearly shown. The court said: ‘ ‘An executor is entitled to an appeal without surety when the judgment or decree is to affect only the assets of the deceased in the hands of the executor. It is otherwise where a personal judgment can be rendered against him, in which he may be responsible out of his own estate.” The case of Daniels, Administrator, v. Gregg, 13 Tex. 384, was an appeal by the administrator from an order of the county court for- a partition of the estate of the deceased, and it was held by the court that the administrator was not required to give an appeal bond. In the case of Battle, Adm’r, v. Howard, 13 Tex. 345, the court said: “Where an administrator is personally aggrieved by a judgment or decree of the county or district court, and desires to appeal in his own right, he must give bond. The statute dispenses with appeal on the part of executors and administrators in suits brought against the estate for money or property.” In the case of State ex rel. Talmadge v. Flint, County Judge, 19 Wis. 655, the court said: “That on an application of a party desiring to appeal from an order of the county judge the circuit court might make an order directing the county judge to fix the penalty of the appeal bond, or to> approve the bond if he improperly refused, or might itself fix the penalty and approve the bond, so that the right of appeal shall not be lost.” The applicant for appeal from the judgment of the county court had prepared an appeal bond, and requested the county judge to approve it and to allow the appeal, which he refused to do, and declared that he would not approve the bond in a sum less than the value of the property, stating the value. This was an application for the writ of mandamus, and not a certiorari. Reference is also made to the case of Mullanphy v. St. Louis County Court, 6 Mo. 564.

Judgment of probate court not reviewable upon certiorari, when

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

Related

Battle v. Howard
13 Tex. 345 (Texas Supreme Court, 1855)
Daniels v. Gregg
13 Tex. 384 (Texas Supreme Court, 1855)
Inhabitants of Frankfort v. County Commissioners
40 Me. 389 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1885)
Keys v. Board of Supervisors
42 Cal. 252 (California Supreme Court, 1871)
Harwood v. French
4 Cow. 501 (New York Supreme Court, 1825)
Munro v. Baker
6 Cow. 396 (New York Supreme Court, 1826)
Starr v. Trustees of Rochester
6 Wend. 564 (New York Supreme Court, 1831)
Baldwin v. Calkins
10 Wend. 167 (New York Supreme Court, 1833)
People ex rel. Church v. Supervisors of Allegany
15 Wend. 198 (New York Supreme Court, 1836)
Overseers of South Huntingdon v. Overseers of East Huntingdon
7 Watts 527 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1838)
Smith v. Parker
25 Ark. 518 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1869)
Flournoy v. Payne
28 Ark. 87 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1872)
Brodhead v. City of Milwaukee
19 Wis. 624 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1865)
Knapp v. Heller
32 Wis. 467 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1873)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 N.M. 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-henriques-nm-1889.