Morgan v. Hamlet

Morgan v. Hamlet
Morgan v. Hamlet
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 30, 1885
Decided March 2, 1885
Full case name Morgan v. Hamlet
Holding
Court membership

Morgan v. Hamlet, 113 U.S. 449 (1885), was a bill in equity filed by the appellants, September 3, 1879.

Contents

Facts

The complainants are the administrator de bonis non of Samuel D. Morgan, deceased, and the children and heirs at law and widow of the intestate, citizens of North Carolina. The female defendants are the children and heirs at law of John G. Morgan, deceased, sued with their husbands, and all citizens of Arkansas.[1]

In 1860, a partnership was formed between two brothers, Samuel D. Morgan and John G. Morgan, the former advancing the means, the latter being bankrupt, for stocking and cultivating a cotton plantation in Arkansas, purchased in the name of the firm, but paid for only in part. Samuel D. Morgan continued to reside in North Carolina. John G. Morgan lived on the plantation in Arkansas, and personally conducted its operations. This he did during several years, including the year 1865, when the plantation was sold, under judicial proceedings, to pay the unpaid purchase money. Samuel D. Morgan died in January, 1864.

John G. Morgan died in 1875, the defendants, his heirs at law, having come into possession of the property in his possession at his decease, more than sufficient to satisfy the claim of the complainants.

Of the complainants, Samuel T. Morgan became of age September 8, 1876, and William W. Morgan in May, 1878. They never had a guardian, and allege their ignorance of the frauds charged to have been practiced against them by John G. Morgan until in 1879.

The answer of the defendants, though admitting the fact of such a partnership as alleged, denies that any profits were made and denies all the allegations of fraud. It also shows that John G. Morgan died in April, 1875, leaving him surviving Emma S. Morgan, his widow, and the defendants, Alice R. Hamlet and Emma G. Abell, and Lula Morgan, an infant, his only children; that letters of administration were issued on his estate by the Probate Court of Chicot County, Arkansas, in which he lived at the time of his death, on August 6, 1875, to his widow, who acted as administratrix of his estate until October 13, 1875, when she resigned, and the defendant John C. Hamlet was appointed by the same court administrator de bonis non, and qualified and acted as such. And it is relied on as a defense that the demands made in the bill were not authenticated and presented to the administratrix or the administrator de bonis non of John G. Morgan, deceased, according to law, within two years of the granting of letters of administration on his estate.

On final hearing the bill was dismissed. From this decree the complainants brought this appeal.

Judgment

In Arkansas, it appears that there is a special statute of limitations governing claims against estates of deceased persons, commonly called the "Statute of Nonclaim." It is as follows:

"All demands not exhibited to the executor or administrator, as required by this act, before the end of two years from the granting of letters, shall be forever barred."

It has been decided that the statute runs against all creditors, whether resident or nonresident. Erwin v. Turner, 6 Ark. 14.

And that all claims fall within the provisions of the statute that are capable of being asserted in a court of law or equity existing at the death of the deceased or coming into existence within two years after the grant of administration, whether due or not, if running to a certain maturity.

And the effect of a failure to present the claim as prescribed in the statute is not to let it in against the heirs or devisees, but it is to bar is forever as against all persons. Bennett v. Dawson, 18 Ark. 334; Brearly v. Norris, 23 Ark. 771.

In 84 U. S. 530, in a like case, it was held by this Court that the failure to present the claim is, in the absence of circumstances constituting an excuse, fatal to the bill for relief in equity.

It is sought in argument on behalf of the appellants to distinguish their case—at least the case of the two infant children of Samuel D. Morgan—from any case within the statute of nonclaim on the ground that at the death of their father, his title to the real estate, which constituted the plantation, descended to them as his heirs at law, and thereafter, as to the operations conducted by John Morgan in 1864 and 1865, having no guardian, the latter was in equity their representative and guardian de son tort and trustee, so that upon his death and until they arrived at age, there was no one competent to make a demand against his administrator, within the terms of the statute.

But we are unable to appreciate the force of this supposed distinction. The statute in question contains no exception in favor of claimants under disability of nonage or otherwise; the claim of the complainants against John G. Morgan was adverse to his administrator, although it may have originated in consequence of a relation of trust, and there is no ground that we are able to understand on which it can be excepted out of the operation of the statute in question. Their claim was equally against the administrator of John G. Morgan whether the latter be considered as the defaulting partner of themselves or of their father. Whatever its description, it was a claim against the estate of John G. Morgan, and for which his personal representative was in the first instance liable, and the statute is a bar to every such claim unless presented within the time prescribed.

On this ground the decree of the circuit court was affirmed.


See also

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hamlet (opera) — Hamlet is an opera in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with the libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on Shakespeare s Hamlet and a French adaptation of the play by Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice. The work was… …   Wikipedia

  • Morgan Alling — Born Sven Robert Morgan Persson June 8, 1968 (1968 06 08) (age 43) Mölndal, Sweden Occupation actor Sven Robert Morgan Alling (born Persson June 8, 1968 in Mölndal) is a …   Wikipedia

  • Hamlet (1948 film) — Infobox Film name = Hamlet image size = 225px caption = theatrical poster director = Laurence Olivier writer = Play: William Shakespeare Screenplay: Laurence Olivier starring = Laurence Olivier Basil Sydney Eileen Herlie Jean Simmons producer =… …   Wikipedia

  • Hamlet (1948) — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Hamlet Produktionsland Großbritannien …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Hamlet (película de 1948) — Para otros usos de este término, véase Hamlet (desambiguación). Hamlet Título Hamlet Ficha técnica Dirección Laurence Olivier Producción …   Wikipedia Español

  • Hamlet (film, 1948) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Hamlet (homonymie). Hamlet Données clés Titre original Hamlet Réalisation Laurence Olivier Scénario Laurence Olivier (n …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Terence Morgan — (* 8. Dezember 1921 in Lewisham, London als Terence Ivan Grant Morgan; † 25. August 2005 in Brighton, East Sussex) war ein britischer Schauspieler. Leben Nach der Schulzeit arbeitete Terence Morgan zunächst als Angestellter bei dem… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Laertes (Hamlet) — Laertes is a character in William Shakespeare s play Hamlet . His name is apparently taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer s Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. In the final scene, he kills Hamlet with a… …   Wikipedia

  • Terence Morgan — Infobox Person name=Terence Morgan caption= birth date=birth date|1921|12|8|df=y birth place=Lewisham, London, UK death date=death date and age|2005|8|25|1921|12|8|df=y death place=Brighton, East Sussex, England, UKTerence Ivan Grant Morgan (8… …   Wikipedia

  • List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 113 — This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 113:SCOTUSTable | data =SCOTUSRow case name = Cole v. La Grange page = 1 decision date = decision year = 1885SCOTUSRow case name = Head v. Amoskeag Mfg. Co. page = 9 decision …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”