CHAP. XIV. Day of signing judgment to be entered on margent of roll. whereof they are entered, or to the day of the return of the original, or filing the bail, and bind the defendants' lands from that time, although in truth they were acknowledged or suffered, and signed in the vacation time after the said term, whereby many times purchasers find themselves aggrieved: S. 14. "Be it enacted, That any judge or officer of any of his Majesty's courts of Westminster that shall sign any judgments, shall at the signing of the same, without fee for doing the same, set down the day of the month and year of his so doing upon the paper, book, docket, or record which he shall sign; which day of the month and year shall be also entered upon the margent of the roll of the record where the said judgment shall be entered. Such judgment S. 15. "And be it enacted, That such judgments as as against purchasers shall against purchasers bonâ fide for valuable consideration of lands, tenements, or hereditaments to be charged thereby, shall in consideration of law be judgments only from such time as they shall be so signed, and shall not relate to the first day of the term whereof they are entered, or the day of the return of the original or filing the bail; any law, usage, or course of any court to the contrary notwithstanding. relate to such time only. Writs of exe cution shall but from time of delivery to officer. S. 16. "And be it further enacted, That no writ of fieri bind property facias, or other writ of execution, shall bind the property of the goods against whom such writ of execution is sued forth, but from the time that such writ shall be delivered to the sheriff, under-sheriff, or coroners to be executed; and for the better manifestation of the said time, the sheriff, under-sheriff, and coroners, their deputies and agents, shall upon the receipt of any such writ (without fee for doing the same) endorse upon the back thereof the day of the month or year whereon he or they received the same." sheriff's agent in The delivery of the writ to the London is a delivery to the sheriff. (a) not named in the statute, and therefore his extent binds the goods from the teste. (b) As far as relates to the debtor himself, and to all others but purchasers, writ of execution binds the party's goods from the time of its teste.(c) S. 18. "That the day of the month and year of the enrolment of the recognizances shall be set down in the margent of the roll where the said recognizances are enrolled, and that no recognizance shall bind any lands, tenements, or hereditaments in the hands of any purchaser bonâ fide, and for valuable consideration, but from the time of such enrolment; any law, usage, or course of any court in anywise notwithstanding." (a) Harris v. Loyd, 5 M. & W. 432. (b) 1 Wms. Saund. 257, 7th ed. notes to Wheatley v. Lane. (c) Roscoe, Nisi Prius, 13th ed, 938. CHAP. XV. Proviso for the jurisdiction of Courts granting probate. Testamentary jurisdiction to be exercised by a Court of Probate. CHAPTER XV. PROBATE AND ADMINISTRATION. HE twenty-fourth section of the Statute of Frauds provided that "nothing in this act shall extend to alter or change the jurisdiction or right of probate of wills concerning personal estates, but that the prerogative court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other ecclesiastical courts, and other courts having right to the probate of such wills, shall retain the same right and power as they had before in every respect, subject nevertheless to the rules and directions of this act." (a) By the act to amend the law relating to probates and letters of administration in England, (b) after reciting that it was expedient that all jurisdiction in relation to the grant and revocation of probates of wills and letters of administration in England should be exercised in the name of her Majesty by one court, it was enacted, (c) that "the voluntary and contentious jurisdiction and authority of all ecclesiastical, royal peculiar, peculiar, memorial, and other courts and persons in England now having jurisdiction or authority to grant or revoke (a) See as to the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts, 1 (b) 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77. probate of wills or letters of administration of the effects of deceased persons, shall in respect of such matters absolutely cease, and no jurisdiction or authority in relation to any matters or causes testamentary, or to any matter arising out of or connected with the grant or revocation of probate or administration, shall belong to or be exercised by any such court or person.' CHAP. XV. by a Court of Probate. (a) “The voluntary and contentious jurisdiction and Testamentary authority in relation to the granting or revoking probate be exercised jurisdiction to of wills and letters of administration of the effects of deceased persons, now vested in or which can be exercised by any court or person in England, together with full authority to hear and determine all questions relating to matters and causes testamentary, shall belong to and be vested in her Majesty, and shall, except as hereinafter is mentioned, be exercised in the name of her Majesty in a court to be called the Court of Probate, and to hold its ordinary sittings, and to have its principal registry at such place or places in London or Middlesex as her Majesty in council shall from time to time appoint." (b) "The Court of Probate shall be a Court of Record, and such Court shall have the same powers, and its grants and orders shall have the same effect throughout all England, and in relation to the personal estate in all parts of England of deceased persons, as the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury and its grants and orders respectively now have in the province of Canterbury, or in the parts of such province within its jurisdiction, and in relation to those matters and causes testamentary, and those effects of deceased persons which are within the jurisdiction of the said Prerogative Court; and all duties which, by statute or otherwise, are imposed or (a) S. 4. (b) S. 23. The Court to out all England have through the same powers as the Canterbury. should be performed by ordinaries generally, or on or by the said Prerogative Court, in respect of probates, administrations, or matters or causes testamentary within their respective jurisdictions, shall be performed by the Court of Probate: Provided that no suits for legacies or suits for the distribution of residues shall be entertained by the court, or by any court or person whose jurisdiction as to matters and causes testamentary is hereby abolished." The twenty-fifth section of the Statute of Frauds provides that "for the better explaining one act of this present Parliament entitled 'An Act for the better settling of intestates' estates,' (a) be it declared that neither the said act nor anything therein contained shall be construed to extend to the estates of feme-coverts that shall die intestate, but that their husbands may demand and have administration of their rights, credits, and other personal estates, and recover and enjoy the same as they might have done before the making of this act." The husband is the next friend and nearest relation of the wife, and has a right to administer exclusive of all other persons; (b) both the administration and the property belong exclusively to the husband-it is not an ecclesiastical, but a civil right-though it is a right administered in the Court of Probate. (c) If a marriage is not void, but voidable merely, and the wife dies without a sentence of nullity having been pronounced, the husband is entitled to administration. But if a marriage is void the husband cannot be entitled to (a) 22 & 23 Car. II. c. 10. (c) Elliott v. Gurr, 3 Phillim. 22, per Sir J. Nicholl. See as to the foundation of this right, 1 Wms. Exors. 7th ed. 410. |