Rozier v. Fagan

Citations

• 46 Ill. 404

Syllabus

<p>1. Constitutional law—of the power of the legislature to authorize an administrator to sell lands to pay debts, without judicial sanction. The act of January 8, 1823, authorizing the administrator of Thomas Brady, deceased, to sell land to pay debts, without providing for any judicial ascertainment that debts were due, is clearly unconstitutional. The legislature has no power to assume that debts were due and payable, and on that assumption, to authorize the administrator to sell land, the title to which was vested in the heirs, and apply the proceeds to the payment of the debts of the estate, without any judicial inquiry as to the existence of such debts, before paying them. The power to determine the existence of debts is judicial, not legislative.</p>