Bennett v. Russell
Bennett v. Russell
Opinion of the Court
The claim in behalf of the plaintiff is, not that this action can be maintained to enable the heirs at law of the intestate to recover and have execution for their respective shares of his personal estate; but that it may be to recover the penalty of the bond for the alleged breach thereof by the administrator in neglecting and refusing to render and settle his account of administration in the probate court, after he had
But the record shows that in this the defendants are entirely mistaken, and that the object and purpose for which the suit was commenced and has been continued to be prosecuted were wholly different from those which they suppose and assert. The declaration, after alleging the execution of the bond by the defendants, proceeds to aver that the said Russell, the administrator, was duly cited and required by the court of probate to render and settle his account of his administration of the estate, that he refused and neglected, and has ever since refused and neglected so to do, whereby a breach of the condition of the bond has been committed. It contains no averment concerning a decree of distribution, ascertaining the share or amount of the personal estate due to the heirs, or to any one of them, or concerning any demand for the payment of such amount or share.
It is clear, therefore, from the record itself, that the object of the suit is to recover the penalty of the bond on account, of unfaithfulness in the administrator, and not that the heirs at law may thereby directly recover and have execution for theii respective shares of the estate, but for the general benefit of all persons interested in. or entitled to, any part of it.
By the Gen. Sts. c. 101, § 25, it is provided that in all cases in which any person or party for any purpose may prosecute an action against the obligors of an administration bond given to the judge of probate, in his name, the writ shall be indorsed by the persons for whose benefit or at whose request the action is
By § 22 the court of probate may, upon the representation oí any person interested in the estate that the executor or administrator has failed to perform his duty in any particular other than those before specified, authorize any creditor or next of kin to bring an action on the bond. An action brought under such circumstances is not for the personal benefit or individual advantage of those by whom, under leave of the probate court, it is prosecuted; and therefore no such additional indorsement upon the writ as, in reference to another class of cases, is required by the statute, could be properly or truthfully made. And therefore, if an indorsement to that effect should be in fact made upon the writ, it ought to be regarded either as having been placed there by accident and mistake, or construed as intending to express an intention to carry on the suit for the general and common advantage of all persons and parties having any interest
A motion to this effect was made in behalf of the" plaintiff at the argument; and as it is not claimed by those at whose request the action is brought that it is prosecuted for their especial benefit, or for the recovery of the shares of the personal property of the intestate to which the heirs at law are respectively entitled, and as it appears that the leave given by the court of probate was founded upon a representation of the alleged unfaithfulness of the administrator in the discharge of his duties, and as the declaration alleges his neglect and refusal after due notice and citation to render and settle his account, it is reasonable and just that it should be allowed. Leave to amend the indorsement upon the writ, by striking therefrom the statement that the action is brought for the benefit of Artemas Willard and others, heirs at law of the intestate, is therefore granted; and this being in reference to a mere matter of form, and the defendants having been notified at the commencement of the suit by the averments in the declaration of the real cause of action, no terms are to be imposed upon the plaintiff. This amendment being made, the only objection which has been suggested, or which appears to exist, to the maintenance of the action, is entirely obviated, and judgment must be rendered for the plaintiff, and, according to the agreement of the parties in this event, for the penalty of the bond.
But as it is shown that the breach of the bond consists in the
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Edmund H. Bennett v. John Russell & others
- Status
- Published