Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1851-09-18


paired OF at the last accounts.
Legal Reform.-No. 4.
To his Ercelleney JOSEPH A. WRIGHT,
II - asei GOueraor Of Indiana:
SIR-There is one other matter of deep and abiding
interest every citizen, and with which are connected
abuses monstrous that the risk OF being deemed
tedious, | will venture briefly 10 remark upon It L
mean the present mode of dealing with the estates
oil deceased persons, commonly called the Probate Sys
ten, and which is the parent of more fraud, waselu
ness, rascalty and inquIty than all the other evils of
laws Our Probate Judges generally men OF worth
and responsibility and whatever evils exist rather
TO be attributed the laws and the long established
though practice of those cours, than to any
wrong intention the part of those whe preside there
Reform here OF the most vital import every
citizen, inasmuch it affects the dearest rights he can
have. While living, he may have u vohon whether he
will enter the legal arena sutton; but death comes,
the only great that is happen to all. and
his property must pass the ordeal oil the law. The
dearest interests OF those he leaves after him. must lie
entrusted to other hands. Beyond his own personal
care, 1t falls to the protection oil the law and It's minis
fers and if such protection proves inadequate the help
less widow and orphaned children the sufferers. La
vain will have been the toll of Lifetime 10 provide
something for the comfort and maintenance oil those
whose dearest welfare lay nearest his heart ii The law
instead of acting a shield becomes a sword, There
has, Tor years, been growing dislike among the
people 10 our whole body of laws upon this subject
Hard and oppressive have often presented them
selves and Tor time aroused the attention and sympa
thy of the neighborhood OF their locality but have either
been forgotten, one cared voluntarily to es-
pouse the of the weak and obscure-the widow
and orphan-against the rich and powerful. The lone
widow" NAV "pine in starving Solitude" and with
sad and comoress heart the little property lett by
him she loved well violently taken, squandered
withheld and for her and the helpless whom she
londly clings no one has been found t. speak The
law which should be strong protect the weak and
helpless has been her and hers only instrument Of
robbery and oppression. But will now speak Would
to heaven her in ADLER hands, one who, with
eloqnence captivate, should make himself heard IN
hundertones from this centre to the remotcst corners oil
our State will longer hold my peace, but at the
risk of offending the oppressor and his mnions will at
tempt, in this public manner, the by means agreea-
bic task of laying bare The niqutes oil an oppressive
and unjust sysem-irustng that my humble efforts may
he in vain-tat public attention he directed
as to evennate in reform where is the most needed
Our laws upon tie subjects of administrators execn
tors guardians dover and PARTITION borrowed from
the English statutes upon those subjects; and am uy
justified saying, that both that country and our
own the whole system has failed the end oil
its design. The history of world shows that the dis
position and practical conduct Of the strong toward the
weak has generally been that OF oppression and tyran
N.Y. and this is whether OF nations individuals
The language of Blackstone nearly an hundred years
ago. shows that human is about the same in our
day, in the times he refers Speaking OF the an
cent English enues and the various services and bur-
ihens connected Herewith they existed in the SIX
teenth century, he says The heir the death oil the
of the ancestor, if OF full age was pundered oil the
first emouents arising from his inheritance by way OF
relief and primer desn and if under age oil the whole
of his estate during infancy And then, as Sir Thomas
Smith very feelingly complains when he came to his
after he OF his hardship his woods decay
ed houses fallen down stock wasted and gone lands let
forth and poughed be barren TO reduce him still fur-
ther he vet to pay years profits as ne for sue
ing his livery and also the price and value OF his
marriage If he refused such wife his lord and
dian had bartered for and imposed upon him, or twice
that value If he married another Add TO this
the untimey and expensive honor Of kgghthood to make
his poverty more completely splendid. And when, by
these deductions, his fortune shattered and ruined
that perhaps he obliged to sell his patrimoDy, he
had not that poor privilege allowed him. without paying
exorbitant fine for a license Of alteration"
Although il may be have such ancient rascal
ties to be used instruments of plumber, yet other
means not wanting TO accomplish the same ends
and venture the hold assertion that the whole body
statutory enactmcnts upon the subject Of the
custody control and division Of the property and estates
of deceased persons, radically wrong and defective
and should he repealed from the beginning to the end
and better and more reasonable system be made to
take its place.
AS now administered the business is done in all sort:
Of ways but the right way producing infinite confusion
and obscuTty; and this necessarily arises with Inc
best intentions from placing the business in the hands
often Of widow unacquained with either legal lorm:
business Transactions and generally of those who
necessated rely upon the aid OF others Guardians
embezzle and squander the estates of their wards un
der pretence of reinvestment their real estate
into money, and then use it for their own speculative
purposes until, when the heir comes oil age, instead
bis woods lands and houses decayed like the heir so pa
theficay spoken of by Blackstone, before quoted, h
finds he has Just lands houses woods at all ant
in any legal attempt redress which he ma,
make against his guardian, be is met with long bill
charges for maintenance, care Of property LAWYER:
fees and clerks and shers fees all oil whic
are generally allowed in full without any legal proc
whatever besides which, he made 10 pay the entr
cost Of bringing his trustee tn account and glad
escape pennypss from the tender protection Of the law
IL his land had been let alone il would doubtless hav
maintained him. and remained entire as a valuable pat
rmony at his majority. -,
While there are many-vcry many honorable men MI
ing these important stations yet il cannot be denied tina
the number falling within the character and description
have spoken of is bv inconsiderabe. nor cal
il he denied that frauds of the most glaring character
are constantly committed and perpetrated by them
Estates have come much to he considered as scr
of common fund to be distributed among heirs, bn
administrators guardians clerks sheris and attorneys
until the evil has grown To magnitude SO great an
p=,vcrfu as to render successful attack and exposur
bv essy. Let voice for reform he raised an
! enough OF interested parties will always he found
raise the howl Of opposition This also is an old phase
human nature More than eighteen centuries have gon
by since certain siver-smth named Demstrius, an
others of like craft opposed the reform of the area
apostle of the Gentes in attempting TO turn the peepl
q from idolatry. And why7 Simply because they mad
silver shrnes for Diana, which brought them no sma
gain. .es, q =, IS t.t5sfess 5. -