Troup v. Rice

Citations

• 49 Miss. 248

Syllabus

<p>1. Chanceby Cociit — Pleadings and Pbactice. — Matters testamentary and of administration belong exclusively to the probate court jurisdiction, although conducted in the form of pleadings employed in equity. In probate court jurisdiction no appeal will lie from an interlocutory order. The jurisdiction of the chancery court and the probate court, were designed to be, and are, distinct. Code of 1857; Code of 1871, art. 3, p. 191, § 1075 ; Const, of Miss., art. 6; Laws of 1870, ch. 6. The probate powers have been conferred upon, an’d transferred to, the present chancery court, but it was not designed to mix the two jurisdictions, nor has equity jurisdiction been enlarged.</p> <p>2. Same — Same.—under the superceded system, though law and equity were administered by the same judge who presided in the circuit court, yet the two jurisdictions remained distinct. So now, matters of probate and of equity are administered in the court of chancery, by the Chancellor, nevertheless the two remain as distinct as law and equity, in the late circuit courts. At the adoption of our present constitution, and the approval of the laws of 1870, there was a well defined and well understood equity jurisdiction, as there was also a probate system and jurisdiction prescribed by the statute. when the two were transferred to the present chancery court, to be administered by the Chancellor, most certainly the result had not been, nor could it have been contemplated, in view of the consequences, to blend or mix the two. A party petitioning 4o compel an executor or an administrator to make final settlement of an estate, or for partial settlement and distribution, or for the construction of a will, and although thepetition charge maladministration, fraud, or any other misconduct, or misappropriation of the-funds of an estate, he need not invoke the aid of a court of chancery. The jurisdiction of the court of probate is full and complete.</p>