CHAPTER II. OF SUCCESSION. SUCCESSION is the devolution or transmission of real or personal property, on the death of, and from persons in a corporate character, to other persons who succeed them in that character. 1331. PART III. T. 1, CH. 2. Definition. to real estate. to personal Real estate passes from corporations to their successors, Succession as it does from natural persons to their heirs. 1332. Chattels real and personal, whether the word successors Succession is used or not, pass by succession, by the common law, in estate. the case of the Sovereign and all aggregate corporations, who, in judgment of law, never die, and of such single corporations as are heads of an aggregate body, whom they represent, which never dies; such as a master of an hospital or a dean. And they may so pass, by special custom, in the case of certain other sole corporations, for some purposes. But generally no such right of succession exists in the case of sole corporations; because, if a chattel interest. granted to a sole corporation and its successors were a llowed to devolve to such successors, the property thereof must be in abeyance from the death of one owner until the appointment of the successor; and this is contrary to the nature of a chattel interest, which can never be in abeyance, or without an owner, but a man's right therein, when once suspended, is gone for ever (a). And hence if a lease. for years is made to a bishop, parson, or other sole corporation, and his successors, it will go to the executors of the lessee (b). 1333. (a) 2 Bl. Com. 430-432; Co. Litt. 9 a (1); 46 b; Watk. Conv. 3rd ed. by Prest. 258. (b) Co. Litt. 46 b; 2 Bl. Com. 431; 1 Cruise T. 8, c. 1, § 25; Watk. Conv. 3rd ed. by Prest. 258. CHAPTER III. OF ADMINISTRATION (a). Pr. III. T. 1, Debts of record. Specialty debts. SECTION I. Of Debts. I. Debts generally, and their different Kinds. A DEBT of record is a sum of money which appears to be due by the evidence of a Court of record; as where a specific sum is adjudged to be due to the plaintiff (b). 1334. Debts by specialty or special contract are sums of money becoming due by deed or instrument under seal: as by a deed of covenant, by a lease reserving rent, or by bond or obligation (e). 1335. (a) [It may be noticed in this place that there is an ad valorem duty payable in respect of probates and letters of administration, as to which see Wms. Exors., 8th ed. (1879), also the Customs and Inland Revenue Acts, 1880 and 1881.] And by the Succession Duty Act, 16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, real property is now made liable to a succession duty (s. 2), payable by eight halfyearly instalments (s. 21); and for the purpose of succession duty, leaseholds are to be considered as real estate (s. 1). And succession duty is now payable on all interests in personal estate, even though created by deed (s. 2). The duty arises on a succession upon the death of any person dying after the 19th of May, 1853, even though under a deed or will executed before that time (ss. 2, 54). And it is to be a first charge on the interest of the successor (s. 42). See Archbold's Succession Duty Act; Shelford's Probate, Legacy, and Succession Duty Act; Thring's Succession Duty Act: [the Customs and Inland Revenue Acts, 1880 and 1881.] (b) 2 Bl. Com. 464. (e) 2 Bl. Com. 465: Marryat v. Marryat, 28 Beav. 224, and cases CH. 3, s. 1. Simple Debts by simple contract are those where the contract PT. III. T. 1, is neither ascertained by matter of record, nor by deed or special instrument, but by mere oral evidence or notes debt. unsealed (a). 1336. contract debts. A mortgage is a debt by specialty, if secured by bond or Mortgage covenant, although the money so secured be not actually paid to the mortgagor. But without a bond or covenant, it seems the debt is a debt by simple contract (b). 1337. Limitation. Under the Statute of Limitations, 21 Jac. 1, c. 16, s. 3, Statutes of actions upon simple contract, whether in the form of debt or assumpsit, must be brought within six years after the cause of action arose, except that by s. 7, as altered by the stat. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 97, ss. 9, 10, 12, if any person entitled to sue is at the time when such cause of action arises under age, or under coverture, or non compos mentis, then such action may be brought within six years from the time when such person shall become of age, or discovert, or sane. And by the stat. 4 & 5 Anne c. 16, s. 19, a similar extension of the time is given where any person liable to be sued is beyond seas at the time when the cause of action accrued. But when once the period of limitation under a Statute of Limitations begins to run, nothing that happens afterwards will stop it (c). The Statute of Limitations, 21 Jac. 1, c. 16, does not apply to demands where a fiduciary relation exists between the parties, whether as express trustee and cestui que trust, or as principal and agent (d). And the protection of the statute is removed if the defendant has there cited; Saunders v. Milsome, L. R. 2 Eq. 573; Kidd v. Boone, L. R. 12 Eq. 89; In re Dickson, Blackburn v. Dickson, L. R. 12 Eq. 154. See stat. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 46, for abolishing the distinction, as to priority of payment, between specialty and simple contract debts, infra, par. 1368. (a) 2 Bl. Com. 465. (b) Coote Mortg., 3rd ed. 452; Isaacson v. Harwood, L. R. 3 Ch. Ap. 225. (c) Smith on Contracts, 3rd ed. 434–7, 452 ; 3 Steph. Com., 4th ed. 546-7. (d) Obee v. Bishop, 1 D. F. & J. 142; Brittlebank v. Goodwin, L. R. 5 Eq. 545; Burdick v. Garrick, L. R. 5 Ch. Ap. 233. |