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Opinion of the Court.

upon the assets being administered by appellant as administrator under appointment by one of the probate courts of Illinois, and that such decree rendered by the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Arkansas would not have been evidence against appellant as administrator in Illinois of any debt, and that, notwithstanding such decree of July 25, 1882, against him as an Arkansas administrator, the appellees, had they sued in Illinois, must have sued appellant as administrator in the courts of Illinois, not upon the said decree, but upon the original cause of action on which the said decree was recovered.

Now, it being the fact that appellant never was appointed administrator by any court of Arkansas, can it be logically contended that the decree of July 25, 1882, rendered against him in Arkansas, should have any greater force against him as administrator appointed by and administering the estate of David Ballentine, deceased, in the county court of Lake County, Illinois, than the same decree would have had, had he been properly appointed administrator by the proper court in Arkansas? It seems to us that the statement of the position carries with it its own refutation.

The dismissal of the bill of review mentioned in the bill of complainant on April 16, 1888, could give no greater force to the decree of July 25, 1882, than it had in the first instance by reason of its rendition. 2 Daniell, Ch. Pract. §§ 1582, 1585.

Mr. Henry S. Robbins for appellees.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The claim of each appellee being for less than $5000, the jurisdiction of this court is limited to the questions of law presented by the certificate of division of opinion between the judges of the Circuit Court. Chicago Union Bank v. Kansas City Bank, 136 U. S. 223.

The defendant was appointed administrator of David Ballentine's estate in Illinois only. As such administrator, he

Opinion of the Court.

appeared in and defended the suit brought by these plaintiffs in the Circuit Court of the United States in Arkansas. By the final decree in that suit it was adjudged that he, "as administrator of David Ballentine, deceased," was indebted to the plaintiffs in certain sums, and that he pay those sums to them "out of the assets of the estate of said David Ballentine in his hands remaining to be administered." In that suit he filed a petition for a rehearing, which was overruled.

The manifest intent and purport of that decree was to charge him, as administrator appointed in Illinois, with the payment of the plaintiffs' claims out of the assets in his hands as such administrator. If this case were before us on appeal from that decree, it might be doubtful, to say the least, whether the decree should be affirmed — in view of the general rule that an administrator's power to act, as well as his duty to account, is limited to the State from whose courts he derives his authority, and that therefore he cannot sue or be sued in another State in which he has not been appointed administrator. Vaughan v. Northup, 15 Pet. 1; Aspden v. Nixon, 4 How. 467; Stacy v. Thrasher, 6 How. 44; Johnson v. Powers, 139 U. S. 156; Reynolds v. Stockton, 140 U. S. 254, 272; Judy v. Kelly, 11 Illinois, 211; McGarvey v. Darnall, 134 Illinois, 367.

But the case does not rest there. The statutes of Arkansas provide that "administrators and executors appointed in any of the States, Territories or districts of the United States, under the laws thereof, may sue in any of the courts of this State, in their representative capacity, to the same and like effect as if such administrators and executors had been qualified under the laws of this State." Arkansas Digest, 1874, $ 4473. In accordance with that statute, the defendant, within a year after the overruling of his petition for a rehearing, filed a bill of review, alleging that these plaintiffs were about to proceed against him for the recovery of those sums in the State of Illinois, and praying for a review and reversal of that decree for several reasons, one of which was that he, "being an administrator appointed not by the courts of Arkansas, but by the courts of Illinois, could not be sued in

Opinion of the Court.

Arkansas;" and that bill, upon a hearing, was dismissed for want of equity.

The decree dismissing the bill of review for want of equity was a conclusive adjudication upon the merits. The point that the plaintiff in review, being an administrator appointed in Illinois only, could not be sued in Arkansas, was apparent upon the face of the record of the decree sought to be reviewed, was stated in the bill of review, was necessarily involved in the decree dismissing that bill, and was thereby conclusively adjudged against the plaintiff in review, the original defendant. In filing the bill to have the former decree set aside upon the ground that it should not have been rendered against him as an Illinois administrator, he became himself the actor, and submitted that question to a court of competent jurisdiction, and its decision upon that question, whether favorable or adverse to him, was equally conclusive of the matter adjudged. Lyon v. Perin & Gaff Co., 125 U. S. 698; Whiting v. Bank of United States, 13 Pet. 6; Biddle v. Wilkins, 1 Pet. 686; Jewsbury v. Mummery, L. R. 8 C. P. 56.

Whatever doubt may have existed as to the validity of the former decree, as binding the assets of the deceased in the hands of the administrator, before the decree upon the bill of review, is removed by the latter decree; and, by the effect. of this decree, the former decree must be treated, for the purposes of this case, as a judgment rendered by a Federal court of competent jurisdiction, and binding the assets of his intestate in his hands, just as if it had been rendered in a Federal court held in the State of Illinois.

This being so, the plaintiffs' claim was not barred by the omission to file it within two years in the county court of Lake County, according to the statutes of Illinois, or by the settlement of the estate and the discharge of the administrator in that court. Illinois Rev. Stat. 1874, c. 3, $$ 60, 70, 111. Such would seem to be the result of the decisions in Illinois. Darling v. McDonald, 101 Illinois, 370; Diversey v. Johnson, 93 Illinois, 547. But, however that may be, the general equity jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of the United States to administer, as between citizens of different States, the

Syllabus.

assets of a deceased person within its jurisdiction cannot be defeated or impaired by laws of a State undertaking to give exclusive jurisdiction to its own courts. Green v. Creighton, 23 How. 90; Payne v. Hook, 7 Wall. 425. In Morgan v. Hamlet, 113 U. S. 449, cited by the appellant, the state statute in question was a mere statute of limitations, clearly applicable to suits in the Circuit Court of the United States, held within the State. Michigan Insurance Bank v. Eldred, 130 U. S. 693, 696.

The eighth question certified must therefore be answered in the affirmative, and this renders it unnecessary to give a definite answer to any of the other questions.

Decree affirmed.

HAMMOND v. HOPKINS.

APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

No. 62. Argued November 11, 12, 1891. — Decided February 29, 1892.

A court of equity will not aid a party whose application is destitute of conscience, good faith and reasonable diligence, but will discourage stale demands, for the peace of society, by refusing to interfere where there has been gross laches in prosecuting rights, or where long acquiescence in the assertion of adverse rights has occurred; and in these respects each case must be governed by its own circumstances.

A purchase by a trustee of trust property, for his own benefit, is not absolutely void, but voidable; and it may be confirmed by the parties interested, either directly, or by long acquiescence, or by the absence of an election to avoid the conveyance within a reasonable time after the facts come to the knowledge of the cestui que trust.

Two partners owned real estate in common, some of which was used in the partnership business. One died making the other by his will a trustee for the testator's children, with power of sale of all the real estate, and directing that the business be carried on. After carrying on the business for some time the trustee sold the real estate, by auction, and bought portions of it in through a third person, and accounted for the half of the net proceeds. This transaction was open, and was known to all the cestuis que trustent, and was objected to by none of them. Held, That there was nothing in all this to indicate fraud.

Statement of the Case.

In all cases where actual fraud is not made out, but the imputation rests upon conjecture, where the seal of death has closed the lips of those whose character is involved, and lapse of time has impaired the recollection of transactions and obscured their details, the welfare of society demands the rigid enforcement of the rule of diligence.

THE Court stated the case as follows:

This was a bill filed in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, April 8, 1884, by William B. Hopkins; Anna B. Hopkins, by her next friend William B. Hopkins; Sarah E. Hopkins, by her next friend Elizabeth A. Early; Elizabeth A. Early; Mary V. Wailes; Alice C. Hall; and Ida M. Stone; against Bertha Hopkins; Bertha Hopkins, administratrix of John S. Hopkins; Esther E. Hopkins; Elizabeth B. Luttrell; Ira W. Hopkins; Mary E. Hopkins; Bettie Davenport; Samuel C. Raub, trustee for Bettie Davenport; Samuel C. Raub, executor of George N. Hopkins; L. Freddie Hopkins, administratrix; Thomas J. Luttrell, administrator of George W. Hopkins; and Thomas J. Luttrell, executor of Cornelius Hopkins; alleging that prior to and on the 23d day of November, in the year 1858, John Hopkins and George W. Hopkins were seized and possessed in fee simple, each of an undivided moiety, as tenants in common, of squares numbered ninety-four (94), ninety-five (95), ninety-six (96), one hundred and ten (110), and one hundred and eleven (111), in the city of Washington, as laid down on the public plats of the city; and that John Hopkins, on that day, executed his last will and testament, a copy of which was annexed. That John Hopkins died November 27, 1858, leaving his children and heirs-at-law, Isaac II. Hopkins; Elizabeth A. Early, born Hopkins; George Washington Hopkins; William M. S. Hopkins; Emeline V. Lilburn, born Hopkins; Mary V. Wailes, born Hopkins; Alice C. Hall, born Hopkins; John S. Hopkins, and Levin Hopkins. That Isaac H. and Levin Hopkins have since died intestate and without issue; that George Washington Hopkins died in the month of July, 1870, leaving as his only children and heirs-at-law, William B. Hopkins, then eleven years of age, and Anna B. Hopkins, then two years of age; that the said Emeline V. Lilburn conveyed

VOL. CXLIII-15

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