*5. The rule, as settled in England, and by the general usage of nations, as to the succession and distribu

siness, or professional occupation, and has a home and permanent residence, is his domicil; and he has all the privileges, and is bound by all the duties flowing therefrom. Code Civil, art. 103. Tanner v. King, 11 Lou. Rep. 175. Opinion of the judges in 5 Metcalf R. 587. It is the home of the party, the place of his principal establishment, which constitutes the domicil. The definition of a domicil, in the writings of the jurists generally, is taken from the civil law. In eodem loco singulos habere domicilium non ambigitur, ubi quis larem rerumque ac fortunarum suarum summan constituit, unde [rursus] non sit discessurus si nihil avocet; unde cum profectus est, peregrinari videtur; quod si rediit, peregrinari jam destitit. Code, lib. 10. tit. 39. 1. 7. See also Dig. 50. 1. 27.1. lb. lib. 50. tit. 16. 1. 203. Though his family reside part of the year at another place, such place is regarded only as a temporary residence, and the home domicil for business takes away the character of domicil from the other. The original domicil of the party always continues until he has fairly changed it for another, even though he has intentionally forsaken it. There must be intention and act united, to effect a change of domicil. A new domicil is not acquired by residence unless taken up with an intention of abandoning the former domicil. Bradley v. Lowry, 1. Speer's S. C. Rep. 1. Attorney General v. Dunn, 6 Meeson & W. 511. Hallowell v. Saco, 5 Greenleaf, 143. Putnam v. Johnson, 10 Mass. R. 488. And it was held in De Bonneval v. De Bonneval, 1 Curteis, 856, that where A. quitted France in 1792, and resided in England until 1814, and then returned to France, and from that time resided occasionally in both countries, he had not thereby abandoned his original domicil. A dwelling place or home means some permanent abode or residence with intention to remain, and has a more restricted meaning than domicil as used in international law. 19 Maine Rep. 293. The forum originis, or domicil of nativity, remains until a subquent domicil is acquired animo et facto. Somerville v. Somerville, 5 Vesey, 750. Balfour v. Scott, cited ibid. p. 757. In this last case the domicil of birth had been shifted by election and residence to a domicil in Eng. land which controlled the personal estate. Case of Dr. Munroe, 5 Madd. Ch. Rep. 379. Harvard College v. Gore, 5 Pick. Rep. 370. Case of James Casey, 1 Ashmead's Rep. 126. A woman on marriage takes the domicil of her husband. The husband's change of domicil changes that of his wife, and the parent also possesses the power of changing the domicil of his infant child by changing his own. Under the English settlement law, minor children take the domicil of the father, and if the mother also, being a widow, changes her domicil, her minor children change theirs also, but not if she acquires a new domicil by re-marriage. Cumner v. Milton, 2 Salk. Rep. 528. Woodend v. Paulspury, 2 Lord Raym. 1473. Freetown v. Taunton, 16 Mass. Rep. 52. See also supra, p. 227, note, on the

tion of personal property, has repeatedly been declared to constitute a part of the municipal jurisprudence of this country. The difficulty has been not in the rule itself, but in the application and execution of it. In Topham v. Chapman, it was said, that though the distribution was to be according to the laws of the country of the domicil

a

b

right of the surviving parent, whether father or mother, to transfer the domicil of the minor children, if done in good faith. If a party has two contemporary domicils, and a residence in each alternately, of equal portions of time, the rule which Lord Alvanley was inclined to adopt was, that the place where the party's business lay should be considered his domicil. Lord Thurlow, in Bruce v. Bruce, 2 Bos. & Pull. 229, note. 3 Vesey, 201, 202. 5 Ibid. 786-789. See 1 Johns. Cas. 366, note, and 4 Cowen's Rep. 516, note, for a collection of authorities on this question of domicil. See also supra, vol. i. p. 74-81, as to the domicil for commercial purposes, and in the purview of the law of nations. Domicil is distinguished by the various situations to which it is applied. There is a political, a civil, and a forensic domicil. There is a domicil arising from birth, and from the domestic relations, and from election. Bynk. Quæst. Jur. Priv. lib. 1. ch. 16. Henry on Foreign Law, App. 181-208. Code Napoleon, No. 102-111. Repertoire de Jurisprudence, art. Domicile. Toullier, Droit Civil Francais, tom. i. p. 318. Story's Comm. on the Conflict of Laws, ch. 3. Burge's Comm. on Colonial and Foreign Laws, vol. 1. ch. 2. tit. Domicile. A resident and inhabitant mean the same thing. But inhabitancy and residence do not mean the same thing as domicil, when the latter is applied to successions to personal estates; but they mean a fixed and permanent abode, a dwelling-house for the time being, as contradistinguished from a mere temporary locality of existence. Roosevelt v. Kellogg, 20 Johns. Rep. 208. Ch. Walworth, 8 Wendell's Rep. 140. See also 4 Wendell. 603. Residence, combined with intention, constitutes a domicil. Whether the residence be long or short is immaterial, provided the intention of residence is wanting in the one case and exists in the other. Code Napoleon, art. 103. Touillier, vol. 1. 323. art. 372. Hennen v. Hennen, 12 Lou. Rep. 190. Guier v. O'Daniel, 1 Binney, 349, note.

a Dixon v. Ramsay, 3 Cranch's Rep. 319. United States v. Crosby, 7 Ibid. 115. Blane v. Drummond, 1 Brockenbrough's Rep. 62. Kerr v. Moon, 9 Wheaton, 565. Desebats v. Berquier, 1 Binney's Rep. 336. Decouche v. Savatier, 3 Johns. Ch. Rep. 210. Holmes v. Remsen, 4 Ibid. 469, 470. Dawes v. Boyleston, 9 Mass. Rep. 337. Harvey v. Richards, 1 Mason's Rep. 408. Crofton v. Ilsley, 4 Greenleaf's Rep. 134. Stent v. M'Leod, 2 McCord's S. C. Ch. Rep. 354. Story's Com. on the Conflict of Laws, p. 391-393. 402-411. Leake v. Gilchrist, 2 Dev. N. C. Rep. 73. 1 Const. Rep. S. C. 292.

of the intestate, yet that his debts in a foreign country must be collected and paid according to the law of that country. Administration must be granted where the debts were; for an administrator has no power beyond the jurisdiction in which he received his letters of administration; and the home creditors must first be paid before the administrator could send the surplus fund to the country of the proper domicil of the intestate. Much

Goodwin v. Jones, 3 Mass. Morrell v. Dickey, 1 Johns. Martin's Louis. Rep. 232. Lear, 12 Ibid. 169. Sto

■ The general rule in England and in this country is, that letters testamentary, or of administration, granted abroad, give no authority to sue or be sued in another jurisdiction, though they may be sufficient ground for new probate authority. Tourton v. Flower, 3 P. Wms. 369. Lee v. Bank of England, 8 Vesey, 44. Dixon v. Ramsay, 3 Cranch's Rep. 319. Doe v. McFarland, 9 Ibid. 151. Pond v. Makepeace, 2 Metcalf's Rep. 114. Sabin v. Gilman, 1 N. H. Rep. 193. Rep. 514. Riley v. Riley, 3 Day's Rep. 74. Ch. Rep. 153. Dangerfield v. Thurston, 20 Kerr v. Moon, 9 Wheaton, 565. Armstrong v. ry's Com. on the Conflict of Laws, p. 422. Vaughan v. Northrop, 15 Peters' U. S. Rep. 1. In N. Carolina, it is now held that probate of a will in another state and duly authenticated, supersedes the necessity of a new probate in that state. Lancaster v. M'Bryde, 5 Iredell, 421. The administration on a foreigner's estate must be taken out where he died, though the assets there are distributable according to the law of the country of his domicil. Aspinwall v. The Queen's Proctor, 2 Curteis, 241 In Carmichael v. Ray, 1 Richardson's S. C. Rep. 116, administration was granted in S. Carolina on the estate of an intestate domiciled there, but it was held, after an able and learned discussion, that a suit could not lie in that state in trover for chattels held by the intestate in N. Carolina, as the title of the administrator did not extend to personal property in a foreign state. The case of executor is different. His title is good jure gentium, and operative when confirmed by the authority of the jurisdiction in which it is to operate. But the administrator's title under grant from the authorities of the intestate's domicil, does not de jure extend or attach to the property in another's jurisdiction. A new title or a recognition of the authority must be derived from the foreign government, and then it is merely ancillary to the original power as to the collection and distribution of effects, and is made subservient to domestic claims, and the residuum is transmitted to the foreign country after the final account is settled in the domestic forum. On this difficult subject of conflicting claims under probate powers from different states, it was held after a full and learned discussion in Connecticut, in the case of Holcomb v. Phelps, 16 Conn. Rep. 127, that where administration was granted in New-York on the estate of A., who VOL. II.

42

discussion took place on this part of the *subject in Harvey v. Richards. It was held, upon a masterly consid

a

was domiciled in New-York, and the assets were removed to Connecticut by the administrator and a new administration was granted there to another person, that the first administrator was not answerable there by suit for the assets, and that the authority from New-York was his protection. See infra, p. 434. n. a. S. P. In McNamara v. Dwyer, 7 Paige, 239, the chancellor was of opinion that the creditors and next of kin were not confined in their remedies against an executor or administrator to the courts of the country in which the letters testamentary or of administration were granted. It was adjudged that the court of chancery had jurisdiction to compel a foreign executor or administrator to account for the trust funds which he received abroad and brought with him into the state, and without taking out letters of administration in New-York on the estate of the deceased. So it has been adjudged in the court of appeals in Virginia, after an elaborate discussion, that if an executor takes out letters testamentary in England, and removes to Virginia, and brings the assets with him, he may be sued there for an account of his administration, and for debts and legacies. Tunstall v. Pollard, 11 Leigh's Rep. 1.36. But the assets will be applied and distributed according to the laws of the state or country from whom he derived his authority to administer. It is held in other cases that a foreign administrator may receive payment anywhere, and give an acquittance. Doolittle v. Lewis, 7 Johns. Ch. Rep. 45. Stevens v. Gaylord, 11 Mass. Rep. 256. Trecothick v. Austin, 4 Mason's Rep. 16. 33. Atkins v. Smith, 2 Atk. Rep. 63. Nisbet v. Stewart, 2 Dev. & Battle's Rep. 24. Mr. Justice Story, in his Conflict of Laws, is of opinion that upon principles of international law, a payment to an original administrator as against a foreign administrator subsequently appointed in the domicil of the debtor would not be good, and that the latter administrator would be entitled to recover the debt, inasmuch as the prior and original administrator had no right to demand it. But in Vaughn v. Barrel, 5 Vermont Rep. 333, a contrary doctrine is declared, and it was adjudged, upon full discussion, that an administrator appointed in another state, had no authority to settle and discharge a debt due from a citizen of Vermont to his intestate, and that such discharge would be no bar to an action for the debt by the administrator appointed in Vermont. Under the local law of Pennsylvania, letters of administration granted in another state are a sufficient authority to maintain an action in that state. M'Culloch v. Young, 1 Binney's Rep. 63. This is the case in Ohio. Statutes of Ohio, 1831, p. 241. 8 Ohio Rep. 228. And in Tennessee, by the statute of 1809, and the provision is commended in Smith v. Marry, 7 Yerger, 26, as just and liberal. But foreign executors and administrators cannot be

1 Mason's Rep. 403.

eration of the case that whether a court of equity would proceed to decree an account and distribution according to the lex loci rei sitæ, or direct the assets to be

same.

sued in Tennessee, as such, in virtue of their foreign letters testamentary or of administration. Allsup v. Allsup, 10 Yerger, 283. And to entitle the executor or administrator to sue in Tennessee, on the fact of the foreign probate or letters, he must produce a duly authenticated copy of the Statute Laws of Tennessee, 1836, p. 78. In the Revised Statutes of Pennsylvania, relating to orphans' courts, as reported in January, 1831, the law of Pennsylvania was recommended to be made to agree, in this particular, with the law of most of the other states. In Massachusetts and Ohio, no will is effectual to pass either real or personal estate, unless duly proved and allowed in the probate court; and the probate of a will devising real estate is conclusive as to the due execution of the will, equally as it is of a will of personal estate. Mass. Revised Statutes, 1835, part 2. tit. 3. ch. 62. sec. 20. Swazey v. Blackman, 8 Ohio Rep. 1. So, the probate is equally conclusive on trials at law, in Maine, Connecticut, and Virginia (4 Greenleaf, 225. 5 Ibid. 494. 1 Day, 170. 1 Leigh, 293,) whereas in Pennsylvania, the probate of a will is conclusive as to chattels, and only prima evidence of title under it as to lands. In England, the probate is evidence of the will as to chattels, but none at all as to lands, for the ordinary has no jurisdiction over wills as to lands. The confirmation of foreign letters testamentary, of administration, and of guardianship, is made very simple and easy in Alabama and Indiana by their statule codes. It is by filing with the clerk of the court where suit is brought, the same authorities or authenticated copies thereof. The guardian is to give new security, as well as to file a copy of the appointment, in order to have the privilege of a resident guardian. So, in Virginia, a will duly authenticated and proved in another state, or in a foreign country, will be admitted to probate, if the proof abroad be such, that if made in Virginia, it would have been admitted to proof, as a will of chattels, or of lands, as the case may be. Ex parte Povall, 3 Leigh's Rep. 816. In Massachusetts and Maine, a will proved and allowed in any other state, or in a foreign country, according to the laws of such state or country, may be filed and recorded, on producing an authenticated copy to the judge of probate of any county in which there is any estate, real or personal, on which the will may operate; and the judge is to hear the case on the probate of the will on giving the prescribed notice of the time and place. If allowed, it is to be filed and recorded, and to have the same force and effect as if proved in the usual way; and letters testamentary or of administration, with the will annexed, are to be granted. Mass. Revised Statutes of 1835, part 2. tit. 4. ch. 3. Act of Maine, 1821. See, also, State v. Judge of Probates, 17 Louis. Rep. 486, as to a similar rule and practice in Louisiana.