Murphy's adm'r v. Carter

23 Va. 477
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJuly 7, 1873
StatusPublished

This text of 23 Va. 477 (Murphy's adm'r v. Carter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murphy's adm'r v. Carter, 23 Va. 477 (Va. 1873).

Opinion

Anderson, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit brought by legatees against an adm’r, c. t. a., and his sureties, to recover their legacies. The testator, by his will, devised certain real estate to each of his three sons, John H., Samuel and Philemon; and he directs that other real estate particularly designated, shall be sold by his executors, in such manner as they shall deem most advisable; and that, at the end of the year, all his perishable estate and crops, together with four negroes, naming them, shall be sold, and out of the money arising from the sales of all the above property and money on hand, and all that may be due him at the end of the year, he directs his debts to be paid; and should there be any surplus money, after paying his debts, he gives it to his three sons, to be equally divided between them. His remaining negroes and other personal estate, or the chief part of it, he gives to his wife and daughters.

The will was admitted to probate, at a court held for Halifax county, on the 26th of April 1836; and on the 25th of July, of the same year, John O. Oabiness qualified as adm’r e. t. a.; and executed a bond with his sureties, in the penalty of $60,000, conditioned that he would make a true inventory of the goods, chattels and credits of the decedent, &c., and the same goods, chattels and credits would well and truly administer according to law, and make a just and true account of his actings therein, when thereunto required by said court; and further, that he would well and truly deliver all the legacies con[481]*481tained and specified in the said will, as far as the said goods, chattels and credits will extend, according to the value thereof, and as the law shall charge him.

The hill was filed in 1845, by Samuel Carter and Philemon Carter, infants under the age of twenty-one years, who sue by their next friend Charles B. Taliaferro, against the said John C. Cabiniss and his sureties and John H. Carter one of said legatees, who is made defendant; and the prayer is, that the court may direct a settlement of the account of the said John C. Cabiniss, as adminstrator with the will annexed of Samuel Carter dec’d,; and that the surplus, after satisfying the debts due by the testator at his death, arising from the sale of the lands and slaves aforesaid, and from the money on hand, and debts due the testator at his death, be distributed amongst the plaintiffs, and John H. Carter, according to the provisions of the will; and for general relief.

In the progress of the cause a reference was made to a master to state the administration account, and report to the court. He reported a balance due from the adm’r on the 1st of September 1848 of c$7,322 81, principal, and $5,901 52 interest, charging him with the proceeds of the real estate as well as personal; and $2,441 02 interest and $2,022 66 principal, deducting the real estate; to which he states should be added $750 principal, and $558 75 interest, cash alleged to have been retained out of the money left on hand by the decedent, by John H. Carter, if the court should be of opinion that he is chargeable therewith. The whole thus chargeable on the personal fund, divided into three equal parts, gave to each of the legatees $1,924 25, of which $999 92 was interest, and $924 33 was principal. To this report the plaintiffs filed various exceptions, and John H. Car[482]*482ter also excepted to the item of $750, and interest ther'eOU.

the 12th of April 1851, the court pronounced a decree in the cause, overruling the said exception of John H. Carter, and holding that the sureties of John C. Cabaniss as adm’r c. t. a. of Samuel Carter, are bound for the faithful administration of the personal part of the estate, decreed against the adm’r and his sureties, in favor of each of the plaintiffs, the sum of $1,924 25, with interest on $924 83, part thereof, from the 1st day of September 1848 till paid. It is also adjudged by the said decree, that the sureties are not bound, merely by reason of said bond, for the proceeds of the real estate sold by the administrator. And whether they are bound for so much thereof as may have been paid by the adm’r in satisfaction of the debts of his testator; and if bound, what was the amount so paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the real estate, are questions which are left open and undecided by said decree; as are also the questions arising upon the plaintiff’s exceptions to the commissioner’s report, which is recommitted, with directions to the commissioner to examine said exceptions, and to report thereon; who is also directed to state the account between John H. Carter and the adm’r, and to report the same.

It was earnestly contended by appellant’s counsel, that if the adm’r applied proceeds of the sale of lands to the payment of debts, the sureties are entitled to the benefit of such payments. This raises a question which was undecided by the said decree, and may be considered now. ■

The argument that the sureties cannot be held bound upon their bond, for any misapplication of the proceeds of the sale of lands, is undoubtedly true. But the claim is not to hold them responsible for a misapplication of [483]*483that fund. It was no misapplication, to apply it in payment of debts; for the sale of the land was required by the will, to raise a fund, which, together with the personal fund, should be applied to that purpose. Such application of it was no default on the part of the adm’r, and consequently could devolve no liability oh his sureties therefor, if or can they be held responsible for his failure to apply the proceeds of the land sold, to the payment of debts, as the law then stood, as they only undertook for the proper administration of the “ goods, chattels and credits.” But that does not seem to remove the difficulty or to meet it.. The sureties undertook that the administrator should apply the personal fund to the payment of debts; and the surplus, if any, to the payment of legacies.. It wras argued that the bond which they executed, only requiring them in terms to “ deliver” legacies, and omitting the word “pay,” should be taken to bind them only to deliver the specific legacies bequeathed by the will, of which there are several, and which it was appropriate to require to be delivered-, as the specific thing, not money, was bequeathed ;'and therefore it would have been wholly inappropriate to have required it tobe paid; and the term “delivered” was used as applicable to such legacies; and the word “ pay” being omitted, which only would be appropriate to the legacies sought to be recovered by this suit, it is fair to presume that the sureties intended only to be bound for the application of the fund in payment of debts, and for the delivery of the specific legacies, and not for the payment of legacies out of the fund created for the payment of debts and legacies over, if there should be a surplus. But, although the term “pay” would be more appropriate in reference to monied legacies, and would not be at all appropriate in relation to legacies which were not pecuniary, yet the word “deliver” is applicable to both [484]*484sorts ieSa°ieB- And it would be too rigid a construe tion to say that an obligation to deliver legacies, some of which were pecuniary, and others specific, did not bind the obligor to the payment of the pecuniary legacies. "WAadhere, therefore, to the assumption that the sureties undertook that the administrator should faithfully apply the personal fund to the payment of debts, and the surplus, if any, to the payment of legacies.

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Related

Elliott v. Carter
9 Va. 541 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1853)

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Bluebook (online)
23 Va. 477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murphys-admr-v-carter-va-1873.