The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-08-23

reform.
Let us examine this bill as it was. 1t
provided for the appointment by the Gov
ernor of a commissioner OF land sales 1Or
each county and city. 1t required him to
give bond and fixed his responsibility very
much after the manner of county treas
urers. 1t defined his duties and attached
heavy penalties for default OF failure in
their performance. In a word, it made 1t
possible to settle up estates and distribute
assets in Il reasonable time, and placed ey-
cry estate in the hands of a bonded Oh
licer. 1t then provided for regular reports
by the commissioner, and all commissions
in excess of three thousand dollars were
to be turned into the county school fund
This is the revolutionary measure.
Compare it with the existing law and
the practice Hereunder. When a man
dies, the State assumes to be his pesJ
friend and undertakes to dispose OF his ell
fects by her law and officers. Suit Is IN
stituted, decree entered, attorneys ap-
pointed by the court as commissioners OF
sales they advertise. SELL collect costs OIL
suit and sale. and take bonds. The decree
saws they must give bond, but our courts,
whose officers they are, have held, IN Ell
feet, that it is the duty OF the purchaser
to see to this for himself. The State as
sumes to take charge Of the dead man S
estate, the States courts appoint ofilcefs
to execute the law, and then says to the
innocent purchaser that the responsibility
is with you, if my officers fail to perform
their duties. How many men have been
victimized by purchasing and paying for
property to find, after the death OF some
attorney or court commissioners, that they
must pay again OF the property be resold !!
Under this bill every citizen would nave
,icoi nd
as he knows his county treasurer, OF sher-
if, or clerk. He would have known him
to be an officer of the State that assumes
to control estates by its laws land he would
have known that in three years the estate
in which he was interested would be SET
tied, OF in default Of payment by the pur-
chaser, such proceedings would necessarily
be had as to conclude all within brief
period. BY such method the widow and
children Of deceased would get what had
been labored for and saved by the proYl-
dent husband and father. Instead OF THIS
being the case now, there is not one estate
IN ten that is finally settled Ill as many
years, and the. children grow to be men
and women, hanging around courthouses,
begging pittance of some attorney com
missioner of that which they were entitled
to have had years before. Instead OF
getting their portion to invest and live
upon, they some day find that they have
dribbled it out in q period OF years. MOI
is this all. During these years the old suit
ponds some die and others marry some
change guardians, and others, III disgust,
remove from the State. AT each OIL Sucn
changes petition is filed, or suggestion
is made, q new decree entered, costs are
accumulated. and the estate, which with
promptness should have been closed with
~, {. nj &c mn
dreds. When the final decree comes, ii 1t
ever shall, the youngest is old enough to
die and leave children who never knew
that their grandfather had an estate.
| claim that this is one of the best meas
ures offered and defeated. Much more
can, and will, be said for it. 1t is whole
some and needed reform. Virginia, III
this matter of her laws, is behind the age
Maryland, with her Orphans Court, fully
meets her responsibility to those over
whom she assumes a guardianship. Ii
the doubters of the policy and conserya-
tism of this measure will go to their court
have been finally settled within the last
twenty years they may have their doubts
solved.
Some lawyers seriously object to this
measure on the ground that it encroaches
upon what they esteem to be their prerog-
alive. We apprehend that the number
will be few. The lawyers profession is
the law. The lawyer, above all other men,
ought to see that the laws of the State are
executed in letter and in spirit. The man
who goes to the bar simply to take DEGREES
and make commissions out OF land safes
has noproper appreciation OF his profession,
and is not. entitled to rank With 1t. AT
most, he is but courthouse hummer.
I, J, iplr O1.x hP-
essary to his support, is OF no public con-
Germ. What does concern every man is
that Virginia makes laws to dispose OF his
property at his death that she assumes to
he husband to his widow and father to his
children to the extent Of securing them in
all their rights OF descent. bequest and de-
wise. and to see to it while living that
those laws are sufficient for their own
proper, prompt, and just execution.
1t should be remarked here that this
measure required q full report OF the COM
missioner at each term OF the court respect
ing every estate in hand, and for default
in this or any other duty it was made the
duty Of the judge to remove him. Ihls IS
a complete answer to the Funder allegation
that the bill Invested the courts OF all pow
er and authority over the commissioners.
Some of the speakers and newspapers re-
sorted to various ways of presenting this
bill to the people. Some would take the
bills presented by members and from them
show some great absurdities. The caucus
bill perfected there and as it passed the
Hous, of Delegates was kept back and
other printed bills read as the Readjuster
measure. Another. way Of combating the
question was to say that they wanted the
commissioners elected by the people. Ii
they are such officers as should be elective
iol-l 10 for hwy