not the case. Yon must employ your lawyers
in the orphans' court as well as in any other
court. You must have a bill regularly filed ;
all the parties having interest in the estate,
whether as heirs, mortgages, or anything
else, will have to file their responses, as now
in an equity court, and the distribution will
have to be made by a decree of partition or of
sale. As to the matter of expense it will
not be diminished one cent. But as a matter
of convenience in reference to the fixing a
place where the titles are to be searched for
it will be a great inconvenience to both sides,
to have the system proposed in this section
adopted.
And besides all that, you will find that
these lay judges upon the orphans' court
bench will make such decisions in regard to
matters of equity jurisprudence, that it will
compel appeals to be taken to the court of
appeals in almost every case, because those
Judges will not be acquainted with equity
jurisdiction, in reference to the personal
estate it is very important that laymen should
appoint appraisers to see to its value and dis-
tribution, because in reference to personal
estate the title goes with the possession.
There is not that great difficulty in regard to
a pure and perfect title in reference to per-
sonal estate, that there is in regard to real
estate, if any such system as this is adopted
you will hereafter have your real estate titles
in this State in the utmost confusion.
Mr. ABBOTT. I do not understand that
there is anything in the constitution or any
disposition to put anything in the constitu-
tion to prevent the people selecting such men
as they see proper to act as judges of the
orphans' court.. Gentlemen speak here about
" laymen." If the people want a lawyer to
act as judge of the orphans' court, they will
put him there. But we do not want to make
a provision here to compel them to put a
lawyer, or anybody else there, unless they
want him. Let them put in whom they
please.
Mr. DAVIS, of Washington. I move to
amend the amendment of the gentleman from
Baltimore city (Mr. Thomas) by striking out
the words '"one thousand, "and inserting the
words "three thousand."
The question was on the amendment to the
amendment.
Mr. PUGH. I only want to act advisedly
in regard to this matter. And I wish to ask
the gentlemen from Baltimore city (Messrs.
Thomas and Stirling,) and others here who
are lawyers, some few questions in order lo
enable me to act advisedly. I am opposed to
the amendment of the gentleman from Wash-
ington (Mr. Davis) for the same reason that
lam opposed to the amendment of the gen-
tleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Thomas.)
The gentleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Stir-
ling) referred to the case of real estate to
the amount of $50,000 or $100,000. Now I |
would ask whether a party interested in that
estate in its distribution, administration, or
interested in it in any other way, has not the
privilege of selecting which court he may
prefer ?
Mr. THOMAS. Certainly they have; that is
exactly the difficulty. Someone party inter-
ested in that enormous estate might select
the orphans' court, and then when the
orphans' court once got jurisdiction, the court
of equity could never obtain jurisdiction over
it. The practice is different in the two courts.
A man dies owing thirty or forty thousand
dollars. You go into a court of equity to
obtain a decree to sell the real estate, the
personal estate not being sufficient. Accord-
ing to the principles equity the mortgagees
have the right to come in and claim their
portion of the estate. And you must go
through a regular routine for the purpose of
having the accounts audited; taking testi-
mony before commissioners, proving claims,
etc. If this section is adopted, you must es-
tablish an entirely new system of procedure
for the orphans' court.
Mr. PUGH. If the estate is of the peculiar
character the gentleman mentions, insolvent
as far as the personal estate is concerned,
that not being sufficient to pay the debts of
the estate, and thus necessitating the falling
back upon the real estate, which is encum-
bered with mortgages, and about the title of
which there may be difficulty; would not
the executor or administrator, being respon-
sible and having given bonds for the proper
administration of that estate, select the proper
course to let him out of the difficulty? In
the case of a complicated estate, any executor
or administrator, being responsible fur the
full value of the estate upon which be is ad-
ministering, will protect himself; »and in or-
der to protect himself lie will select that course
of proceeding which will be most likely to
secure his protection. If the gentleman or
myself were the administrator of an estate,
we would certainly secure our safety by se-
lecting that court which would probably lead
us most safely through all these difficulties.
Mr. THOMAS. Under the provisions of this
section, it will not always be in the power of
the executor or administrator to select which
jurisdiction he will have. If the gentleman
from Cecil (Mr. Pugh) is the executor of a
large estate, and I am one of the creditors, 1
can take time by the forelock and go into the
orphans' court before he knows anything
about it, and acquire jurisdiction there,
There is the great difficulty by giving the
orphans' court this jurisdiction.
Mr. PUGH. I do not admit the statement
of the gentleman that he as a creditor can
obtain jurisdiction before I can do so as ex-
ecutor or administrator. But these objections
do not reach the ground which I intend to take
in this matter. I admit the difficulty in regard
to complicated estates. But I do not admit— |
