L'Engle v. L'Engle

Citations

• 19 Fla. 714

Syllabus

<p>1. Administrators loan funds, assets of the estate they represent. In a suit by them in their representative capacity as administrators to recover the money the defendant cannot set off the value of his services rendered the estate at the request of the administrators. Unless specially authorized by law the administrators can make no new contract binding the estate. The remedy of the party contracting with them is personal against them and the judgment in such a suit is to be satisfied do bonis propriis.</p> <p>2. Where a demurrer to a plea heard in vacation is sustained, and there is no proper application to withdraw the demurrer or to amend or plead further, the proper judgment to be rendered is a final judgment against the defendant. The Judge under the rule and statute should so order, and where the action is upon a contract in which the clerk can assess the damages, a formal final judgment, sustaining the demurrer, and for the damages assessed should be entered upon the hearing upon the demurrer without waiting for a rule day. A judgment entered by the clerk at a subsequent day for default in pleading is unauthorized, as there is no default, the defendant having pleaded and his plea having been pronounced insufficient in law.</p>