Werbiskie v. McManus

Citations

• 31 Tex. 116

Syllabus

<p>The 26th section of the act of 1848, to regulate proceedings in the county courts about estates, reads as follows: “ Whenever an executor or administrator has been qualified in the manner required in this act, it shall he the duty of the clerk to make out and deliver to such executor or admin- • istrator letters testamentary'or of administration,‘as the case may be, which letters shall be signed by the chief justice and attested by the clerk, with his signature and the seal of the court; and either said letters or a certificate of the clerk, with the seal of the court affixed that such letters have been issued, shall be sufficient evidence of the appointment and qualification of an executor or administrator, whenever it shall be necessary to make proof. thereof.” (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 1286.) If the authority of the executor or administrator be denied, he must produce the letters of administration, duly signed and sealed, or else the certificate of the clerk that such letters have issued. The payment of the stamp duty required by the act of Congress is a prerequisite to the grant of administration, without which the letters are void. (Int. Rev. Pamph. of 1867, p. 129.)</p> <p>. The best evidence of accounts which it is in the power of the party to pro- . duce, by ordinary or extraordinary means, shall be exhausted before books of account are admissible.</p> <p>Besides the oath of the party touching the correctness of his books, it shall be proved by others who are acquainted with the party, among his neighbors and customers, for fair dealing, that his reputation as an honest man and correct book-keeper is untarnished. (Paschal’s Dig., p. 601, Note 832.)</p>