Case Name: In the matter of Sebastian Raab's Estate
Court: Supreme Court of Ohio
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Decision Date: 1865-12
Citations: 16 Ohio St. 273
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the matter of Sebastian Raab’s Estate.
Judges: Scott, C. J., and White and Welch, JJ., concurred. ■
Reporter: Ohio State Reports, New Service
Volume: 16
Pages: 249–258

Head Matter:
In the matter of Sebastian Raab’s Estate.
1. The judicial settlement of an administrator’s account, on exceptions filed thereto, is a “ proceeding” within the meaning of section 310 of the code. Therefore, in such proceeding, the administrator is a competent witness for either party, and his competency as such is not affected by either section 311 or 604, nor by section 313 as it stood by the amendment of April 3, 1861.
.2. The costs of such proceeding may be awarded and taxed by the court, “ as in its discretion it may think right and equitable,” in analogy to the provisions of section 554 of the code.
3. Where the debtor of a deceased person is appointed administrator, the debt becomes assets in his hands; and, on exception to his final account, claiming that he has omitted to charge himself with such debt, the court may hear evidence, and determine the validity of such claim and amount of such debt.
*Error to the court of common pleas of Franklin county. Eeserved in the district court.
John Eaab, administrator of the estate of Sebastian^ Eaab, deceased, was cited, by the widow and heirs of the decedent, to a settlement .of his account as such administrator; and, on the 28th day of January, 1862, he filed his final account in the probate court.
To this account of the administrator, the widow and heirs filed exceptions, as follows:
1. That the 11th and 12th items of the account are improperly charged to tho estate.
2. That he ought not to be credited the 3d item of $47.15 cash, paid tó John Eaab.
3. That he has not embraced in his inventory, or returned as assets, the sum of $140, due from him to the estate, and interest thereon from August 15, 1852.
4. “ That the said administrator failed to include in the inventory and return as assets of the said estate the sum of $100, due from the said John Eaab for work of the deceased during his lifetime, and for that of the family; and interest thereon since November 15, 1852.”
5. For additional interest claimed.
The probate court, on the hearing, sustained the first, third, and fifth exceptions, and overruled the second and fourth. The administrator appealed to the court of common pleas.
On the trial in the common pleas, the administrator withdrew from his account the items embraced in the first exception.
It is shown in the bill of exceptions that “ the widow and heirs offered testimony under item 4th of the exceptions, tending to prove the claim therein alleged. To the reception of which testimony counsel for the administrator objected, and the court sustained the objection and refused to receive said testimony, or to enter into an examination of the matters stated in said exception, on the ground that said matters could not be properly brought before the court for adjudication on exceptions to said account.”
After the testimony on the part of the exceptors was closed, the administrator, to sustain his account, “ offered himself as *a witness, and proposed to give testimony; to which the counsel for the widow and heirs objected, on the ground that the administrator was incompetent as a witness, when produced on his own behalf, which objection the court overruled, and held that he was competent to testify as a witness to any transaction or conversation with the deceased in his lifetime, to which the widow and heirs had testified; and also to testify generally to all matters that occurred after the death of said deceased, and during his said administration.” “On the further hearing of the case, the administrator proposed to show, by his own testimony, that the money received by him from the deceased, in his lifetime, was paid over to him when no one was present but the deceased and himself; to which testimony the widow and heirs, by their counsel, objected, because the widow and heirs, who had testified, had spoken only of conversations and transactions between the said administrator and the deceased which occurred in their presence; which objection was overruled by the court, and said testimony of said administrator received.”
To all which rulings and holdings of the court the widow and heirs excepted.
The court overruled all the exceptions filed to said account, except the fifth; and adjusted the accounts of the administrator accordingly, finding a balance in his hands of $458.78; and ordered him to pay all costs out of that sum, and to distribute the balance to the widow and heirs.
The exceptors moved for a rehearing, for the following reasons:
1. The court erred in ruling out the testimony offered under item four of their exceptions.
2. The court erred in admitting the testimony of the administrator.
3. The court erred in overruling item three of the exceptions.
The court overruled the motion; to.which, and to all the findings and orders of the court, the widow and heirs excepted.
To reverse the final orders and judgment of the common pleas, a petition in error was filed in the district court, which was there reserved for decision in this court.
*<7. N. Olds, for the widow and heirs : '
1. It was an error in the common pleas to tax the entire costs against the estate. The estate ought not to be taxed with the cost of compelling an administrator to perform his duty.
2. It was an error to allow the administrator to testify on his own behalf, and on his own motion. S. & C. 597, sec. 158; lb. 599, sec. 167 ; Swan’s Manual,-158; Bailey v. Blanchard, 12 Pick. 166.
He was not a competent witness under the code, because (1) section 311 expressly prevents the application of section 310 “to the settlement of the estates of deceased persons,” as does also section 604; and (2) this process of settlement is not a “ civil action or proceeding,” within the meaning of the code. Nor is the administrator a party to a civil action, within the meaning of section 313.
In this process of the settlement of his accounts, which is not a civil action in any sense, he is not, therefore, entitled to the benefit of section 313, as amended April 3,1861 (58 Ohio L. 57), and which was the law in force when this matter was heard in the common pleas. But even admitting that he is entitled to testify, in certain cases, under clause 3 of section 313, as amended, still the court erred in allowing him to testify to any transactions or conversations with the deceased, in his lifetime, when the widow and heirs, who had been examined, were not present, and to facts of which they had not spoken. It was ei’ror also to allow him “ to testify generally to all matters that occurred after the death of said deceased, and during his said administration.”
3. It was an error to exclude all testimony under exception four. S. & C. 598, sec. 162.
John L. Green, for the administrator:
It was not error “ for the administrator to testify on his own behalf and on his own motion.”
The testimony given by the administrator was simply rebutting, and related to the matters alone of which the exceptors had spoken. Although the court held the administrator a' competent witness to testify “generally to all matters that occurred after the death of said deceased, and during his said ^administration,” it not appearing that the administrator availed himself of that ruling, the exceptors were not prejudiced, and there is no ground for error even if the ruling was erroneous.
It was competent for the administrator to rebut, by his own testimony, the matters previously sworn to by the exceptors. If, by section 311 of the code, the administrator is excluded from testifying in a case like this, so are the exceptors, the widow and heirs. But the court did permit them to testify to conversations and transactions between the administrator and the deceased, in Ms life. This was in contravention of the first clause or exception of section 313 of the code, as amended. 58 Ohio L. 57. The exceptors having been thus permitted to testify, it would have been unjust to not have permitted the administrator to deny, as a witness, the truth of their statements. He had no other way to explain his account, thus attacked. It does not lie in the mouth of the exceptors to say they were prejudiced.
If section 313 of the code, as amended, has anything to do with the point, I refer to the third clause or exception in the section as sustaining the court in the ruling complained of as error.
It not appearing in the record that objection was made by the administrator to the competency of the widow and heirs as witnesses, should not affect the result in a case of this kind not stricti furis.
Otto Dresel, also for the administrator:
1. The court below properly taxed the costs against the estate. Swan’s Manual (4th ed.), 76, 77. It was a matter within its discretion. S. & C. 584, sec. 94; Code, sec. 584; S. & 0. 1118. This matter clearly resting within the discretion of the court, its holding with regard to costs will not be reversed on error. Legg v. Drake, 1 Ohio St. 286-289.
2. The action of the court below in relation to exception four was not erroneous. (1.) The exception was indefinite and informal. (2.) The administrator having omitted to include the claim in the inventory, thereby under oath denies it to be a just claim against him. It being at least a disputed claim, *it was properly omitted from the inventory; and his final account, also omitting it, is clearly not liable to exception for that reason. S. & C. 575&, secs. 50, 53.
If the administrator failed to charge himself with a just debt he owes the estate, he is liable on his bond. S. & C. 602-604, secs. 179, 181, 186. He has a right to have the question tried by jury.

Opinion:
Day, J.
It is claimed that the court of common pleas erred:
1. I'n ordering all the costs to be paid out of the balance due the estate.
2. In admitting the testimony of the administrator, offered and given by himself.
3. In excluding all testimony offered in support of the fourth exception.
Where no error has intervened except in the disposition of the costs of proceeding, there is no occasion to disturb the orders of the court further than that which relates alone to the costs. Under the provisions of the code, that order, if erroneous, may be reversed, and such order made by this court as should have been made by the court of common pleas.
There is, however, no statutory provison expressly applicable to the taxation of costs in proceedings of this kind.- But the court is left to follow the obvious analogies of the law, and make such order, in relation thereto, as it may deem just and equitable, " having reference to the facts that appeared on the trial." S. & C. Stat. 584, sec. 94.
Express provision is made in the code as to which party may recover costs, " in actions for-the recovery of money only, or for the recovery of specific real or personal property." S. & C. Stat. 1117, sec. 551, et seq. But it is provided that, "In other actions the court may award and tax costs, and apportion the same between the parties on the same or adverse sides, as in its discretion it may think right and equitable." S. & C. Stat. 1118, sec. 554.
This, then, is the statutory rule in all cases under the code in the nature of proceedings in equity. This was not, it is true, a ^proceeding under the code; nevertheless, before the passage of the code, it was, and still is, recognized by the statute, as a proceeding subject to be controlled by the " usages of courts of chancery." S. & C. Stat. 599, sec. 168.
In the absence of any statutory provision to the contrary, it was clearly proper for the court, both " according to the usages of courts of chancery," and in analogy to like provisions of the code, to order the payment of the costs, " as in its discretion it might think right and equitable."
It follows, therefore, that where the costs may be awarded as the court may regard right and just, upon the facts and circumstances of the case, unless the evidence is disclosed upon the record, the reviewing court can not say that a Sound and equitable discretion was not exercised in the disposition of the costs. We have not the evidence before us in this case; and, if no other error appeared upon the record, the judgment for costs must stand as rendered below.
Was the administrator, under the code, competent as a witness, to testify in his own behalf?
The answer we are constrained to give to this question disposes of the various methods adopted in argument, by which the admissibility of his testimony has been resisted on one side and maintained on the other.
Section 310 of the code provides that, "No person shall be disqualified as a witness in any civil action or proceeding, by reason of his interest in the event of the same, as a party or otherwise, or by reason of his conviction of a crime; but such interest or conviction may be shown for the purpose of affecting his credibility."
In the broadest and most comprehensive language, this section removes all disqualification of a witness grounded on interest, whether " as a party or otherwise;" and it can not be doubted that the administrator, though a party and interested in the event of the proceeding, was thereby rendered competent to testify in his own behalf, unless he comes within one of the objections urged against him, viz: that the case was not a " proceeding " within the meaning of section 310 of the code; or, if it is, that he comes within subsequent exceptions, as stated in sections 311 and 604, excluding him from the general provisions of section 310.
*To determine whether this case is included within the meaning of the word " proceeding," as used in section 310, it is necessary only to refer to section 601, which is, so far as material to this question, as follows: " Until the legislature shall otherwise provide, this code shall not affect proceedings on habeas corpus, quo warranto, or to assess damages for private property taken for public uses, nor proceedings under the statutes for the settlement of estates of deceased persons." Hero the word is used in the code as applying expressly to this class of cases.
But this question is set at rest by repeated decisions of this court, that section 604 " has reference to the forms of proceedings, and not to the competency of witnesses," and that the parties to such proceedings are, under section 310, competent witnesses. Atlantic and Great Western R. R. Co. v. Campbell, 4 Ohio St. 583; Carter v. Kise, 9 Ohio St. 402.
It is claimed that section 311 of the code expressly prevents the application of section 310 to proceedings in the settlement of estates. That section is as follows: "Nothing in the preceding section contained shall in any manner affect the laws now existing relating to the settlement of estates of deceased persons, infants, idiots, or lunatics, or the attestation of the execution of last wills and testaments, or of conveyances of real estate, or of any other instrument required by law to be attested."
This section is fairly susceptible of the same construction as that given to section 604. The latter section provides that the "code shall not affect proceedings under the statutes for the settlement of estates;" and section 311 provides that " nothing in the preceding section contained shall in any manner affect the laws now existing relating to the settlement of estates." The latter section refers to the " competency of witnesses " no more than the former. One protects proceedings under other statutes from being affected by the code; the other protects certain statutes themselves from innovation by construction of section 310; and neither limits that section as to the competency of witnesses. This is expressly done in section 313, as to a large class of eases, which affords a strong reason why it was not intended to be done in the others.
. *The object and purpose of section 311 was to exclude such a construction of the preceding one as would in any manner dispense with the requirements of statutes relating to the settlement of the various kinds of estates, or the attestation of wills and other instruments required by law to be attested.
Various considerations have been urged in argument as to the effect of section 313 in this case. When this case was tried, that section read as follows: "No party to a civil action shall be allowed to testify by virtue of section 310, in any action when tbe adverse party is the guardian of a child or children of a deceased person, or of an idiot, or of a lunatic, or of a deaf and dumb person, or is the executor or administrator of a deceased person, except in the following cases, namely," etc. 58 O. L. 57. The remainder of the section only restricts the foregoing limitations of section 310, and is not material to the question under consideration.
It is not directly claimed that the administrator was, by that section, disqualified as a witness; and it is necessary only for us to add that he did not, in that proceeding, come within the provisions of or limitations enumerated in section 313, as it stood under the amendment of April 3, 1861, and in force when the case was tried below. But how this question may be affected by a material amendment to that section, enacted March 31, 1864, we are not called upon, and therefore do not now undertake, to decide.
Did the court err in excluding all evidence offered by the ex-ceptors, to show that the administrator was indebted to the estate for work done by decedent?
It is claimed, in argument, that the exception as set forth in item four was too vague and uncertain to allow any proof to be given under it. To this objection it may be replied, that no motion was made to make the exception more definite, doubtless for the reason that it was sufficiently so to apprise the administrator of the character and general description of the claim sought to be charged upon him. Moreover, the record excludes the supposition of any exception based on that ground, by affirming that the evidence was not admitted, "on the ground that said matters" embraced in item four " could not be properly brought before the court for adjudication on exceptions to said account."
*It is claimed that a suit on the administrator's bond is the only remedy provided by the statute for his neglect to charge himself with a debt due from him to the estate.
Undoubtedly an ample remedy on the bond is provided for every breach of the administrator's duty. State v. Cutting, 2 Ohio St. 1. But does it therefore follow that this remedy is exclusive? It may be, for the purpose of charging the sureties on the bond; but, under the provisions of the statutes relating to the settlement of estates, a majority of us think that, as against the administrator, it was comj>etent for the probate court, on exceptions to his final account, claiming that he has neglected to charge himself with assets in his hands, to hear evidence and determine the validity of such claim, and the amount thereof, with which he should stand charged in his account.
Nor do we perceive any well-grounded distinction to be taken as to the powers and duties of the probate court on exception to the account of the administrator, whether the exception be grounded on the neglect of the administrator to charge himself with a debt due from him to the decedent, or his neglect to inventory or charge himself with any other property or money belonging to the estate; for, under the statute, a debt due from the administrator to the decedent is assets m his hands, for which he is accountable on settlement of the estate, whether it be included in the inventory or not. Tracy's Adm'r v. Card's Adm'r, 2 Ohio St. 431; S. & C. Stat. 598, sec: 162.
The probate court is invested with jurisdiction "to direct and control the conduct, and to settle the accounts, of executors and administrators, and to order the distribution of estates." S. & C. Stat. 1212, sec. 2. The probate judge is required by law to publish notice " of the filing of any accounts by executors, administrators, ' or guardians, specifying the time when such accounts will be heard, . -. . at which time it shall be competent for said probate judge, for cause, to allow further time to file exceptions to said account " (S. & C. Stat. 1216, sec. 20); and on such hearing, the probate judge is invested with "full power and authority to examine, under oath, all executors, administrators, and guardians, touching their accounts." Id., sec. 21.
* Again, under the act for the settlement of estates, the court is empowered to "refer the account and the exceptions thereto, if any, to a special commissioner, according to the usages of courts of chancery." S. & C: Stat. 599, sec. 168. It is, moreover, provided in the subsequent act, defining the jurisdiction and regulating the practice of probate courts, that "all questions, except those arising in criminal actions and proceedings, unless otherwise provided by la^, shall be determined by the probate judge, unless in his discretion he shall order the same to be tried by a jury, or referred, as provided in section two hundred and eighty-five of the code of civil procedure of this state." S. & C. Stat. 1216, sec. 28. And, upon the hypothesis that the court is empowered to hear and determine all questions that arise upon proper exceptions to the settlements of administration accounts, the statute provides that "upon every settlement of an account by an executor or administrator, all his former accounts may be so far opened as to correct any mistake or error therein; excepting that any matter of dispute between two parties, which had been previously heard and determined by the court, shall not be again brought in question, by either of the same parties, without leave of the court." S. & C. Stat. 599, see. 169.
The construction that the legislature intended to confer upon the probate court power to determine all questions that may arise on settlement of such accounts, is strengthened by the provision "that appeals may be taken from any order, decision, or decree of the probate court, in settling the accounts of an executor or guardian." S. & C. Stat. 1218, sec. 37.
The record shows that, in this case, there were exceptions. filed; as authorized by law, attacking the account and questioning its correctness. In passing upon the merits of one of the exceptions, it became necessary to determine whether the administrator was indebted to the decedent as alleged; for, if so, there were assets in his hands to be accounted for, and the exception to the account was well taken and sustainable.
By a fair construction of the statutes before referred to, a majority of the court hold that the spirit and purpose of their provisions are, to give the probate court jurisdiction of the subject-matter submitted to it by the "account and exceptions ^theretoand that the probate judge was both empowered and required to determine the questions thereby submitted, or to require their determination in one of the methods authorized by law.
It follows that the exceptors had the right to offer evidence upon the questions made by the exception in controversy; and that, therefore, the court erred in refusing to permit any evidence to be given in support of the exception.
Judgment reversed, and case remanded for further proceedings.
Scott, C. J., and White and Welch, JJ., concurred.
' Bkinkerhoff, J., dissented from the concluding proposition.