CRAIN VS. BARNES AND FERGUSSON. 159

that the check' for the precise balance standing to the credit of
Mrs. Barnes, but to whom the money was paid, does not ap-
pear, and it is very certain, that the check authorized any bearer
to receive it, it being, in effect, payable to bearer. Now, in
this state of the case, can this court Undertake to say, that this
sum of fifteen hundred dollars was paid by Barnes to Compton,
on account of the legacy bequeathed by Bond to Mary C. B.
Barnes ?

It has been said by high authority, that courts of justice are
not at liberty to indulge in wild irrational conjectures, or licen-
tious speculation. They must act upon fixed and settled rules,
or the rights of persons and property, for the preservation of
which they are instituted, will be exposed to painful uncertain-
ty, or involved in inextricable confusion. It is true, that a rigid
adherance to those rules may sometimes work injustice in par-
ticular cases, but it is far better that individuals should occa-
sionally suffer, than that principles, which time and experience
have shown to be essential to the ascertainment of truth, shall
be broken down, or disregarded.

It is certainly possible, that these two sums of five hundred
and fifteen hundred dollars, may have been paid on account of
this legacy, and if so, the estate of Mr. Barnes is injured by the
refusal of the court to allow credit for them ?

But who is to blame for it ? Surely himself in neglecting
those ordinary precautions which are usually observed in the
transaction of business. He took no receipts. He passed no
account as guardian claiming credits. He made no entry in his
books, or any memorandum among his papers (so far as the
proof shows) of any such payments. The written evidence re-
lied upon, together with the parol proof of Mr. Stone, is wholly
inconclusive and unsatisfactory; and I, therefore, feel it to be
my duty not to give it the weight attached to it.

The court, therefore, will sign an order, referring this case
to the Auditor, with directions to state an account, in which the
defendants, as the executors of the late John Barnes,. will be
charged with the pecuniary legacy bequeathed by the late
Samuel Bond to Mary C. B. Barnes, afterwards Mary C. B.