|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEPBURN'S CASE. 105
altogether an affair of his testator's estate, he would certainly have
so expressed himself; and it was his duty, most distinctly, to set
forth that intention, if the facts were so; because, if the bill had
been sold above par, the profit, in that case, belonged to the estate
of his testator; and upon that ground alone, if it had been re-
turned protested, the estate of the testator could have been made
to bear the loss.
To shew, that this bill of exchange was, in truth, made a part
of the affairs of the estate of the late John Hepburn, the petitioner
places great reliance on the entry of the 8th of April, 1789. But
it must be recollected, that at a very early period, dollars were
made a legal tender at six shillings each; (q) which afterwards, in
a spirit of rivalship with the other colonies, and to retain the then
circulating coin in the country, became current at seven shillings
and sixpence each; and that to prevent the evils arising from such
fluctuations in the current coin of the colonies, the government of
the mother country interposed and directed, that dollars should
pass in all of them at six shillings, which was affirmed by the
Legislature here; (r) so that although the distinction between legal
and current money was still kept up by the habits of the people,
accounts of executors and administrators were settled with the
courts in legal money at the rate of six shillings to the dollar; (s)
even after dollars were, by law, made a legal tender at seven shil-
lings and sixpence, (t) until such accounts were, long afterwards,
directed to be stated in dollars and cents, (u) These circumstances
gave rise to many mistakes and much perplexity, (w) Whence it
became a general habit for executors and administrators, before,
and continued to be so for some time after the revolution, to sub-
mit their papers and vouchers to the Register of Wills; who made
all the proper corrections, and put the account into legal form, (x)
The necessity for this aid from the register was increased at the
time this executor Samuel C. Hepburn, proposed to pass his ac-
count; because of the variety of the kinds of current money of
which its numerous items were composed, and the peculiar depre-
ciation of some of them, (y) The necessity and importance of
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(g) 1686, ch. 4.—(r) Royal Proclam. 18 June, 1704, 0 Anne, c.30; 1708, ch. 4
Chal. Pol. Ann. 367.—(s) Dep. Com. Gui. 20, 44.—(t) June, 1780, ch, 8, s. 19 ;
November, 1781, ch. 16.—(u) 1798, ch. 101, sub ch. 6, s. 5.—(to) Parker v. Mackall,
2 Bland, 66, note; Woodward v. Chapman, 2 Bland, 69, note.—(x) Dep. Com. Gui. 20.
(y) The Chancellor's case, I Bland, 635.
14 v.3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
