Scott v. Neal

• Citation: 38 L.Ed. 896,14 S.Ct. 1108,154 U.S. 34
• Decision Date: 14 May 1894
• Docket Number: No. 890,890
• Parties: SCOTT v. McNEAL et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

154 U.S. 34

14 S.Ct. 1108

38 L.Ed. 896

SCOTT

v McNEAL et al.

No. 890.

May 14, 1894.

This was an action of ejectment, brought January 14, 1892, in the superior court of Thurston county, in the state of Washington, by Moses H. Scott against John McNeal and Augustine McNeal to recover possession of a tract of land in that county.

At the trial, it was conceded that the title in this land was in the plaintiff until 1888; and he testified that he entered into possession thereof, and made improvements thereon, and had never parted with the possession, nor authorized any one to go upon the land; that he had demanded possession of the defendants, and they had withheld it from him; and that its rental value was $100 a year.

The defendants denied the plaintiff's title, and claimed title in themselves under a deed from an administrator of the plaintiff's estate, appointed in April, 1888; and in their answer alleged that in March, 1881, the plaintiff mysteriously disappeared from his place of abode, and without the knowledge af those with whom he had been accustomed to associate, and remained continuously away until July, 1891, and was generally believed by his former associates to be dead; and specifically alleged, and at the trial offered evidence tending to prove, the following facts:

On April 2, 1888, Mary Scott presented to the probate court of the county of Thurston, in the territory of Washington, a petition for the appointment of R. H. Milroy as administrator of the estate of the plaintiff, alleging 'that one Moses H. Scott, heretofore a resident of the above-named county and territory, mysteriously disappeared some time during the month of March, 1881, and more than seven years ago; that careful inquiry made by relatives and friends of said Moses H. Scott, at different times since his said disappearance, has failed to give any trace or information of his whereabouts, or any evidence that he is still living; that your petitioner verily believes that said Moses H. Scott is dead, and has been dead from the time of his said disappearance;' that he was never married, and left no last will or testament yet heard of; that he left real estate in his own right in this county of the value of $600, more or less; that his heirs were three minor children of a deceased brother; and that the petitioner was a judgment creditor of Scott.

Notice of that petition was given by posting in three public places, as required by law, a notice, dated April 7, 1888, signed by the probate judge, and in these words: 'In the Probate Court of Thurston County W. T. Mary Scott having filed in this court a petition praying for the appointment of R. H. Milroy as administrator of the estate of Moses H. Scott, notice is hereby given that the hearing and consideration of said petition has been fixed for Friday, April 20, 1888, at 10 o'clock a. m., at the office of the undersigned.'

At the time thus appointed, the probate court, after appointing a guardian ad litem for said minors, and hearing witnesses, made an order by which, 'it duly appearing that said Moses H. Scott disappeared over seven years ago, and that since said time nothing has been heard or known of him by his relatives and acquaintances, and that said relatives and acquaintances believe him to be dead, and that his surroundings, when last seen (about eight years ago), and the circumstanstances of that time and immediately and shortly afterwards, were such as to give his relatives and acquaintances the belief that he was murdered at about that time; and it appearing that he has estate in this county: Now, therefore, the court find that the said Moses H. Scott is dead to all legal intents and purposes, having died on or about March 25, 1888; and no objections having been filed or made to the said petition of Mary Scott, and the guardian ad litem of the minor heirs herein consenting, it is ordered that said R. H. Milroy be appointed administrator of said estate, and that letters of guardianship issue to him upon his filing a good and sufficient bond in the sum of one thousand dollars.' Letters of administration were issued to Milroy, and he gave bond accordingly.

On July 16, 1888, the probate court, on the petition of Milroy as administrator, and after the usual notice, and with the consent of the guardian ad litem of said minors, made an order, authorizing Milroy as administrator to sell all Scott's real estate. Pursuant to this order, he sold by public auction the land now in question, for the price of $301.50, to Samuel C. Ward. On November 26, 1888, the probate court confirmed the sale, the land was conveyed to Ward, and the purchase money was received by Milroy, and was afterwards applied by him to the payment of a debt of Scott, secured by mortgage of the land.

On November 26, 1889, Ward conveyed this land by warranty deed to the defendants, for a consideration paid of $800; and the defendants forthwith took and since retained possession of the land, and made valuable improvements thereon.

At the time of the offer of this evidence, the plaintiff objected to the admission of the proceedings in the probate court, upon the ground that they were absolutely void, because no administration on the estate of a live man could be valid, and the probate court had no jurisdiction to make the orders in question; and objected to the rest of the evidence as irrelevant and immaterial. But the court ruled that, the probate court having passed upon the sufficiency of the petition to give it jurisdiction, and having found that the law presumed Scott to be dead, its proceedings were not absolutely void; and therefore admitted the evidence objected to, and directed a verdict for the defendants, which was returned by the jury, and judgment rendered thereon. The plaintiff duly excepted to the rulings and instructions at the trial, and appealed to the supreme court of the state.

In that court, it was argued in his behalf 'that to give effect to the probate proceedings under the circumstances would be to deprive him of his property without due process of law.' But the court held the proceedings of the probate court to be valid, and therefore affirmed the judgment. 5 Wash. 309, 31 Pac. 873.

The plaintiff sued out this writ of error, and assigned for error that the probate proceedings, as regarded him and his estate, were without jurisdiction over the subject-matter, and absolutely void; and that the judgment of the superior court, and the judgment of the supreme court of the state affirming that judgment, deprived him of his property without due process of law, and were contrary to the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States.

Nathan S. Porter, for plaintiff in error.

Milo A. Root, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff formerly owned the land in question, and still owns it, unless he has been deprived of it by a sale and conveyance, under order of the probate court of the county of Thurston and territory of Washington, by an administrator of his estate, appointed by that court on April 20, upon a petition filed April 2, 1888.

The form of the order appointing the administrator is peculiar. By that order, after reciting that the plaintiff disappeared more than seven years before, and had not since been seen or heard of by his relatives and acquaintances, and that the circumstances at and immediately after the time when he was last seen, about eight years ago, were such as to give them the belief that he was murdered about that time, the probate court finds that he 'is dead to all legal intents and purposes, having died on or about March 25, 1888;' that is to say, not at the time of his supposed murder, seven or eight years before, but within a month before the filing of the petition for administration. The order also, after directing that Milroy be appointed administrator, purports to direct that 'letters of guardianship' issue to him upon his giving bond; but this was evidently a clerical error in the order or in the record, for it appears that he received letters of administration and qualified under them.

The fundamental question in the case is whether letters of administration upon the estate of a person who is in fact alive have any validity or effect as against him.

By the law of England and America, before the Declaration of Independence, and for almost a century afterwards, the absolute nullity of such letters was treated as beyond dispute.

In Allen v. Dundas, 3 Term R. 125, in 1789, in which the court of king's bench held that payment of a debt due to a deceased person to an executor who had obtained probate of a forged will discharged the debtor, notwithstanding the probate was afterwards declared null and void, and administration granted to the next of kin, the decision went upon the ground that the probate, being a judicial act of the ecclesiastical court within its jurisdiction, could not, so long as it remained unrepealed, be impeached in the temporal courts. It was argued for the plaintiff that the case stood as if the creditor had not been dead, and had himself brought the action, in which case it was assumed, on all hands, that payment to an executor would be no defense. But the court clearly stated the essential distinction between the two cases. Mr. Justice Ashurst said: 'The case of a probate of a supposed will during the life of the party may be distinguished from the present, because during his life the ecclesiastical court has no jurisdiction, nor can they inquire who is his representative; but, when the party is dead, it is within their jurisdiction.' And Mr. Justice Buller said: 'Then this case was compared to a probate of a supposed will of a living person; but in such a case the ecclesiastical court have no jurisdiction, and the probate can have no effect: their jurisdiction is only to grant probates of the wills of dead persons. The distinction in this respect...