Kropff v. Poth

Decision Date11 December 1883
Citation19 F. 200
PartiesKROPFF v. POTH.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

A. Q Keasbey & Sons, for plaintiff.

Sheppard & Lentz, for defendant.

NIXON J.

This is a personal action at law, brought by an alien against a citizen. On October 26, 1883, the death of the plaintiff was suggested upon the record, and an order entered that the suit proceed to final judgment in the name of his executor. A motion is now made to vacate said order as improvidently entered.

The executor of the deceased plaintiff is an alien, residing in the same country as the testator, to-wit, at Nordhausen, in the empire of Germany. There have been no letters testamentary or of administration on the estate taken out in New Jersey. It is well settled that such a person, whether administrator or executor, cannot begin a suit in the courts of the United States to enforce an obligation due his intestate or testator. See Dixon's Ex'rs v Ramsay's Ex'rs, 3 Cranch, 319; Noonan v Bradley, 9 Wall. 394. The counsel for the plaintiff concedes this, but claims that, under the provisions of section 955 of the Revised Statutes, when an alien sues and dies the suit may be continued to final judgment by his executor, whether foreign or resident. That section, which is section 31 of the judiciary act, was doubtless enacted to avoid the inconvenience of the common-law rule that all actions, personal as well as real, abated by the death of either of the parties...

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