Probate court

“ Thus, if a probate court, invested only with authority over wills and the settlement of estates of deceased persons, should proceed to try parties for public offences, jurisdiction over the subject of offences being entirely wanting in the court, and this being necessarily known to its judge, his commission would afford no protection to him in the exercise of the usurped authority. ”

“ The probate court being not only a court of record, but a constitutional court of fixed and permanent character invested with general jurisdiction and plenary power's over the matters committed by law to its peculiar cognizance, and open to superior review by appeal, is to be regarded as a superior court. ”

“ The suggestion that the order of the probate court is in reality not a judgment but only a 'judicial ascertainment' of credits does not affect our conclusion. No judgment against the United States is more than that. ”

“ If this were a statute merely determining the limits of the jurisdiction of a probate court and thus providing that the County Judge should have no jurisdiction to receive or pass upon claims not filed within the eight months, while leaving an opportunity to the United States otherwise to enforce its claim, the authority of the State to impose such a limitation upon its probate court might be conceded. ”

“ These objects are generally accomplished by the constitution and powers which are given to the probate courts, and the modes provided for reviewing their proceedings. And one of the principal reasons assigned by the equity courts for not entertaining bills on questions of probate is that the probate courts themselves have all the powers and machinery necessary to give full and adequate relief. ”

“ It is manifest from the foregoing statement that the only possible ground upon which the assertion that we have jurisdiction by direct appeal to review the action of the trial court can rest is the contention made below, that, as to the complainant, the notice of the hearing in the probate court upon the petition for the settlement of the account of the executor and for the final distribution of the estate of Williams did not amount to due process of law. ”

“ Thus, if a state law provides for any form of notice on an application to probate a will, and authorizes a contest before the admission of the writing to probate, then it would follow, if the words 'suit or action of inter partes' embraces such a contest, the proof of wills, if contested by a citizen of another state or alien, would be cognizable in the courts of the United States, and hence not under the exclusive control of the state probate court. ”

“ At common law, he might, before proving the will in the probate court, not only take possession of the property, but sell or dispose of it, pay debts of the estate, receive or release debts owing to it, bring actions for property which was in the testator's actual possession, and do almost any other acts incident to his office, except that he could not maintain any other actions without producing a copy of the probate and letters testamentary at the trial. ”

“ This, of course, in no wise impugned the principle that all parties to a contest, in proceedings in a probate court preliminary to and during the course of administration upon the estate of the decedent, upon a matter within the jurisdiction of the court, are concluded in every other court by the decision rendered, as to the facts upon which such decision necessarily proceeded. ”

“ In a preceding instruction which the court had given to the jury, upon the application of the defendant himself, the probate of the deed by Governor Livingston before Judge Hobart, was treated as prima facie evidence of a delivery. It was there stated that the probate was 'only prima facie evidence, or evidence from which a delivery may be presumed, and may be rebutted by direct or circumstantial evidence, which raises a contrary presumption.' Is it not plain, then, that, if not so rebutted, the plaintiff is entitled to recover? What is prima facie evidence of a fact? ”

“ The courts of the United States, on removal of the proceeding from the probate court, were clothed with no greater power in the premises than the courts of the state would have possessed if their jurisdiction had been preserved. ”

“ It cannot be pretended that the forms of pleading may not be dispensed with by sutors; as it is certain that the benefit of matters both of substance and form may be lost by mere neglect or omission, where no intention of the renunciation of either is apparent or ever existed. We must conclude that the District Court had rightfully jurisdiction of the cause removed into it from the Probate Court; that its judgment is and must be binding upon the parties to it, until it shall be annulled or reversed by a competent authority. ”

“ In order that one complainants may have the means of making, if they shall see fit, a formal application to the Probate Court, for the proof of the last will and the revocation of the first, having the answers of the executors, jurisdiction as to this matter may be sustained. ”

“ A court of probate must, indeed, inquire into and be satisfied of the fact of the death of the person whose will is sought to be proved or whose estate is sought to be administered, because, without that fact, the court has no jurisdiction over his estate ”

“ If any person interested shall, within two years after probate had, appear, and by bill in chancery contest the validity of the will, an issue shall be made up whether the writing produced be the last will of the testator or testatrix or not; which shall be tried by a jury, whose verdict shall be final between the parties, saving to the court the power of granting a new trial, as in other cases; but if no person appear in that time the probate shall be forever binding ”

“ If a circuit court were to assume jurisdiction of a matter committed by law to the probate court exclusively, or the county court were to assume jurisdiction of a military officer, or if the probate court were to try and condemn a man for high treason, such proceedings would be all nullities, because there would be no foundation at all for such proceedings: no case had ever been presented to bring into action any judicial power of these Courts. ”

“ Especially is that so in view of the growing tendency of probate courts throughout the land to break the shackles of the ancient rule. Weighty considerations of expediency and justice explain this tendency and support it. ”

“ On hearing such petition, the probate court shall examine every executor and administrator upon oath as to the truth and correctness of his account before the same is allowed; but such examination may be omitted when no objection is made to the allowance of the account and there is no reason to doubt the justness and correctness thereof; and the heirs, legatees, and devisees may be examined on oath upon any matter relating to the account of any executor thereof is called in question. ”

“ III., c. 78, requiring that certain proceedings of justices should, in relation to closing and opening ways, in order to give them validity, appear on the face of those proceedings, in a prescribed schedule or form set forth in the statute; is considered as wholly inapplicable.
If, then, the appointment and the acts of the clerk of probate depended for their validity upon the principles which apply to the acts of officers de facto, a just interpretation of the authorities adduced in behalf of the plaintiff in error, gives validity to both. ”

“ When the State laws, as a condition for the final settlement of a probate decree require either the revocation of the interdict or the appointment of a curator one or the other thing must be done. It is not enough for the party to show that he has a right to have one of them done. ”

“ And this will be manifest at once when it is considered that it only requires a period of about forty years to pass every atom of property in the State real and personal and many choses in action through the ordeal of the probate court; while it is estimated that the whole would not be passed through the circuit court in an entire century. ”

“ In an opinion holding that a decree of a probate court admitting a will to probate was not, on an issue between parties, one of whom was not a party to the probate proceedings, competent evidence of the testator's mental capacity, he said: 'A judgment in rem is an act of the sovereign power; and, as such, its effects cannot be disputed; at least, within the jurisdiction. If a competent court declares a vessel forfeited, or orders it sold free of all claims, or divorces a couple, or establishes a will, . ”

“ Nor is the question before us affected by the consideration that an order of the general term, merely affirming an order of the special term which overruled a motion for a new trial, where the finding of the jury is favorable to the caveatees, is not itself a final judgment. Such an order is, in legal effect, a direction that a judgment of probate be entered by the same court which denied the new trial. ”

“ If, for instance, the action be upon a money demand, the court, notwithstanding its complete jurisdiction over the subject and parties, has no power to pass judgment of imprisonment in the penitentiary upon the defendant. If the action be for a libel or personal tort, the court cannot order in the case a specific performance of a contract. If the action be for the possession of real property, the court is powerless to admit in the case the probate of a will. Instances of this kind show that the general doctrine stated by counsel is subject to many qualifications. ”

“ But it was almost universally recognized that no will could have effect, for any purpose, until admitted to probate and record by the local authority, although in some states, while the original probate was conclusive until set aside, for all purposes and as to all persons, in others it was conclusive, while in force at all, only as to personalty and for the purposes of administration, and not as a muniment of title as to devises. ”

“ But their powers have not been left to be now deduced for the first time from the language of the article above cited. They appear to have been defined and established by the supreme judicial authority of the State, and plainly distinguished from the functions of the Probate Courts with reference to subjects like those involved in the present case. ”

“ And obviously, as the caveator under that law has the burden of proving the want of mental capacity in the testator before the will has been probated, he is not relieved of this burden when challenging such capacity in a proceeding instituted to revoke the probate of a will after the presumption of the testator's sanity has been fortified by a decree of probate made in solemn form after notice to the parties in interest. ”

“ We are of opinion that the sections in question authorize a proceeding for contest only before the court which has admitted the will to probate or rejected the application made for probate, and that the authority thus conferred concerning the contest is an essential part of the probate procedure created by the laws of Washington, and does not, therefore, cause a contest, when filed, to become an ordinary suit between parties. ”

“ It might be argued that logically the only question upon the probate was the factum of the instrument. Pohlman v. Untzellman, 2 Lee Eccl. Rep. 319, 320. But the practice is well settled to deny probate if it clearly appears from the contents of the instrument, coupled with the admitted facts, that it is inoperative in the event which has happened. Parsons v. Lanoe, 1 Ves. Sr. 189, Ambler, 557, 1 Wils. 243; Sinclair v. Hone, 6 Ves. 607, 610; Roberts v. Roberts, 2 Swabey & T. 337; Lindsay v. Lindsay, L. R. 2 P. & D. 459; Todd's Will, 2 Watts & S. 145. ”