Miller v. Dorsey

Le Grand, C. J., delivered the opinion of this court. We think the court erred in passing the order appealed from, and therefore reverse its decision. ³²³ Admitting the administrator de bonis non to have but the rights which were conferred on the person to whom letters were, in the first instance granted, still, this circumstance does not preclude him from objecting to any claim which may be presented against the estate. The payment of a dividend by the original administrator did not preclude him, on the ascertainment of grounds of objection to claims once acknowledged by him, from urging such objection in a court of law. It cannot be pretended, that if an administrator should, after acknowledging a claim against the estate of his intestate, discover that it had been paid, he would be debarred from setting up such fact to defeat the claim.

And if this be so, why not the administrator d. b. n.9 In either case the administrator is, in the first instance, the only judge whether the claim shall be paid or not. To his discretion and conscience alone is confided the propriety and justice of the interposition of the plea of limitations; with this the orphans court has nothing to do. But it is said, the administrator is a trustee for the benefit of the creditors, and inasmuch as the claims against the estate were once admitted and filed, the statute cannot now run. Without deciding whether or not administration is such