464 DORSEY v. HAMMOND.

lay out the lands accordingly and make return of a plot thereof.
And the trustee having reported, that he had made sale of the estate,
as thus laid off into lots, and had given notice to the creditors of
the deceased to file their claims as required by the decree, the
sales were finally ratified, no cause having been shewn to the con-
trary after the usual order of publication.

On the 29th of February 1828, the auditor reported, that he had
examined the proceedings and stated all the claims exhibited
against the estate of the deceased, and an account between the
estate and the trustee, in which the proceeds of sale were applied
to the payment of the trustee's commission and expenses, costs of
suit and survey, county taxes, and dividends on all the claims
stated. But that claim No. 3 was not proved as required by the
act of 1798, ch. 101; that claim No. 4 was against the deceased as
surety, and that the insolvency of the principal debtor was not
proved; and that absolute judgments had been recovered against
the executor by the creditors for claims No. 3, 4, and 5, which
judgments being conclusive evidence of the sufficiency of the per-
sonal assets to satisfy those claims, had destroyed the right of
those creditors to resort to the real estate. On the 6th of. March
following the auditor made another report, in which he says, that
he had admitted two other claims, and had re-stated the account,
and had deducted the additional costs from the dividends allotted
to the two newly admitted claims.

22d March, 1828.—BLAND, Chancellor.—This case having been
submitted, in relation to the claims reported by the auditor as No.
3, 4, and 5, on the remarks in writing of the solicitor of those
claimants, the matter has been maturely considered.

It has been insisted, that the auditor had no right to make such
objections, as those set forth in his report, to any claim. I do not
recollect ever to have met with an instance in which an auditor's
report has been opposed upon similar grounds before. I deem it
, therefore proper to say something upon this subject, not because I
entertain any doubt, or perceive any difficulty, but from a wish that
the practice and course of the court should be better understood.

From the nature of the cases brought before this court it is perfectly
obvious, that calculations, dividends, and statements of accounts
must often be required to be made for the elucidation of the matter,
or as preparatory to a decree, or order. Formerly such accounts,
or statements were most usually made under a special commission
for that purpose, directed to certain commissioners who were