Burris v. Kennedy

Citations

• 108 Cal. 331
• 41 P. 458
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 863

Syllabus

<p>.Estates op Deceased Persons —Probate Jurisdiction op Superior Court— Constitutional Law—General Jurisdiction.—In this state the superior courts are given jurisdiction by the constitution of all matters of probate, in like manner as they are given jurisdiction of cases at law and in equity, and the grant of jurisdiction in regard to matters of probate is part of the general jurisdiction of the superior court.</p> <p>Id.—Probate Jurisdiction not Statutory.—The superior court, while sitting in probate, is not a statutory tribunal, and does not derive its power from the act of the legislature.</p> <p>Id.—Nature op Probate Proceedings — Special Proceedings — Presumptions.—Probate proceedings are not classed by the constitution as special proceedings, though the administration of an estate so far as it can be called a judicial remedy is classed as a special proceeding in the code; hut it is a proceeding hi rent, which is not, in the technical sense, such a special proceeding unknown to the framework of the common law as will change the presumptions which attach to the action of the superior court as a court of general jurisdiction derived from the constitution, and it does not become pro hac vice a court of inferior and limited jurisdiction.</p> <p>Id. — Mode oe Action Regulated by Code.—Although the superior court derives its authority from the constitution it is controlled as to the mode of its action by the code, and the legislature may regulate the mode in which the court shall exercise its jurisdiction, though it cannot circumscribe its powers.</p> <p>Id.—Presumption as to Probate Decrees—Collateral Attack.—Under the constitution of 1879, the same presumption attaches to decrees in probate proceedings upon collateral attack, as to judgments in cases at common law or in equity, and the sufficiency of the proceedings or petition will be tested by the same liberal rule which applies to the pleadings in an ordinary action upon such attack.</p> <p>Id.—Application to S