In re the Accounting of Schneider

198 Misc. 1017, 100 N.Y.S.2d 371, 1950 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2126
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedOctober 6, 1950
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 198 Misc. 1017 (In re the Accounting of Schneider) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Surrogate's Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Accounting of Schneider, 198 Misc. 1017, 100 N.Y.S.2d 371, 1950 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2126 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1950).

Opinion

Frankenthaler, S.

This case presents a novel question in this State in the realm of the conflict of laws. Deceased, a naturalized American citizen of Swiss origin died domiciled in New York County, leaving as an asset of his estate certain real property located in Switzerland. In his will he attempted to dispose of his property, including the parcel of Swiss realty, in a manner which is said to be contrary to the provisions of Swiss internal law. That law confers upon one’s legitimate heirs, a so-called legitime, i.e., a right to specified fractions of a decedent’s property, which right cannot be divested by testamentary act. The precise issue, therefore, is whether this deceased had the power to dispose of the realty in the manner here attempted.

Ordinarily, the courts of a country not the situs of an immovable are without jurisdiction to adjudicate questions pertaining to the ownership of that property (Knox v. Jones, 47 N. Y. 389; Matter of Osborn, 151 Misc. 52; Deschamps v. Miller [1908] 1 Ch. 856; British South Africa Co. v. Companhia de Mocambique [1893] A. C. 602). Actions concerning realty are properly litigable only before the courts of the situs. However, in this case the administratrix appointed prior to the probate of the [1020]*1020will has liquidated the foreign realty and transmitted the proceeds to this State. She is now accounting for the assets of the estate including the fund representing that realty. As a consequence, this court is called upon to direct the administration and distribution of the substituted fund and to determine the property rights therein (Butler v. Green, 65 Hun 99; Matter of Mackay, 77 Misc. 303; Matter of Peat, L. R. 7 Eq. 302; Deschamps v. Miller, supra). In doing so, however, reference must be made to the law of the situs, as the question of whether the fund shall be distributed to the devisee of the realty under the terms of the will is dependent upon the validity of the original devise thereof (Butler v. Green, supra; Matter of Mackay, supra), which must be determined under the law of the situs of the land itself (Monypeny v. Monypeny, 202 N. Y. 90; Matter of del Drago, 287 N. Y. 61).

The court is confronted at the outset with a preliminary question as to the meaning of the term ‘1 law of the situs ’ ’ — whether it means only the internal or municipal law of the country in which the property is situated or whether it also includes the conflict of laws rules to which the courts of that jurisdiction would resort in making the same determination. If the latter is the proper construction to be placed upon that term, then this court must, in effect, place itself in the position of the foreign court and decide the matter as would that court in an identical case.

The meaning of the term “ law of the situs ” can be ascertained best from a consideration of the reasons underlying the existence of the rule which requires the application thereof. The primary reason for its existence lies in the fact that the lawmaking and law-enforcing agencies of the country in which land is situated have exclusive control over such land (Watts v. Waddle, 6 Pet. [U. S.] 389; Polson v. Stewart, 167 Mass. 211; 1 Wharton on Conflict of Laws [3d ed.], §§ 276b, 278). As only the courts of that country are ultimately capable of rendering enforcible judgments affecting the land, the legislative authorities thereof have the exclusive power to promulgate the law which shall regulate its ownership and transfer. When the land itself formed the estate asset upon which the will was intended to operate, the power of sovereign to enforce such laws created rights therein between the parties in interest. If an instrument which was intended to transfer that land did not meet the standards set by that law or violated some provisions thereof regarding the land, the courts had the physical power to deny it effect and enforce instead the rights decreed by the law of that country [1021]*1021or the law of any other country which the lawmaking agencies deemed appropriate in a particular case.

Hence, the rights which were created in that land are those which existed under the whole law of the situs and as would be enforced by those courts which normally would possess exclusive judicial jurisdiction (Griswold, Renvoi Revisited, 51 Harv. L. Bev. 1165, 1186; cf. Schreiber, The Doctrine of Renvoi in Anglo-American Law, 31 Harv. L. Rev. 523, 559). If another court, in this case our own, is thrust into a position where it is obliged to adjudicate the same questions concerning title to that land, or a substitute therefor, it should be guided by the methods which would be employed in the country of situs. The purely fortuitous transfer of the problem to the courts of another State by virtue of a post-mortuary conversion of the land, effected for the purpose of administering the entire estate in the country of domicile, ought not to alter the character of the legal relations which existed with respect to the land at the date of death and which continued to exist until its sale. Consequently, this court, in making a determination of ownership, must ascertain the body of local law to which the courts of the situs would refer if the matter were brought before them.

It has been urged, however, that a reference to the conflict of laws rules of the situs may involve an application of the principle of renvoi, and if so it would place the court in a perpetually-enclosed circle from which it could never emerge and that it would never find a suitable body of substantive rules to apply to the particular case (see Schreiber, op. cit. supra; Matter of Chadwick, 109 Misc. 696, and authorities cited). This objection is based upon the assumption that if the forum must look'to the whole law of the situs, and that law refers the matter to the law of domicile, this latter reference must be considered to be the whole law of the latter country also, which would refer the matter back to the law of the situs, which process would continue without end. That reasoning is based upon a false premise, for as has been said by Dean Griswold (Renvoi Revisited, op. cit. supra, p. 1190): “ Becognition of the foreign conflict of laws rule will not lead us into an endless chain of references if it is clear for any reason that the particular foreign conflicts rule (or any rule along the line of reference) is one which refers to the internal law alone * * (To the same effect, see Casdagli v. Casdagli [1919], A. C. 145, revg. [1918], Prob. 89, opinion of Scrutton, J., dissenting, p. 111; Cowan, Renvoi Does Not Involve a Logical Fallacy, 87 U. of Pa. L. Rev. 34.)

[1022]*1022The precise question here considered, namely whether there shall be a reference to the entire law of the situs to determine the ownership of the proceeds of foreign realty, is one of first impression in this State. Nevertheless, the above stated principles, together with the rule enunciated in the Restatement of the Conflict of Laws, in the English authorities on the subject and in analogous eases in courts of this State and others, require us to accept it as a part of our law and to hold that a reference to the law of the situs necessarily entails a reference to the whole law of that country, including its conflict of laws rules.

The rule as formulated in the Restatement is as follows: “ § 8. Rule in questions of title to land or divorce.

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Bluebook (online)
198 Misc. 1017, 100 N.Y.S.2d 371, 1950 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-accounting-of-schneider-nysurct-1950.