be entitled to administer, and often to all who are beneficially interested in the estate. A failure to give the notice required by the statute will usually be sufficient cause for revoking letters of administration given without it. The persons cited to appear on the hearing, or any person beneficially interested in the estate, may appear and contest the grant of administration to any particular applicant.

The granting of administration is a proceeding in rem, the same as the probating of a will, to which there are no formal parties. And an order made by the proper court, upon such notice as the statutes require, is usually binding upon all the world.

6. Statutes in many of the States prescribe the time within which administration shall be applied for, and administration granted after such time is usually held void. In some States no limitation is prescribed and administration may be had within a reasonable time. In a few States the amount of property which shall justify administration is prescribed by statute, but in most States no such provision is found, though there must usually be some assets to justify the grant of administration.

Sec. 1035. WHO MAY CLAIM APPOINTMENT AS ADMINISTRATOR?-The person who is entitled to be appointed administrator, is usually determined by the provisions of the State statutes.

At the Common Law the surviving husband had the right to administer upon the estate of his deceased wife, and the surviving wife had usually the same right either

alone, or in connection with the next of kin to administer upon the estate of her deceased husband.

This rule is preserved by the statutes in most of the States, and if there be no husband or wife surviving, then the right of administration usually passes to the next of kin. If no kindred exist competent or willing to act, then a creditor or a stranger may be appointed.

The right of the widow to administer the estate of her husband is not an absolute one, and may be forfeited by her misconduct. She is usually held disqualified where by an antenuptial settlement she has waived all rights in her husband's personal property. The right of the husband at Common Law might be lost for the same reason. And the right of either is dependent upon the existence of a valid marriage at the time of the death, so that if the marriage was void, or has been dissolved by divorce, the right of administering fails.

After the right of the surviving husband or wife to administer, usually comes the right of the next of kin. Who they are, and in what degree related, is to be determined by the rules already given in the previous chapter. Where there are several, standing in the same degree of relationship, the court usually has power to select the most suitable to administer. In making this selection, certain rules usually govern. Thus a sole administration is preferred to a joint one; males are preferred to females; residents to non-residents; unmarried women to married women; relatives of the whole

*Rev. Stat. of Ohio, Sec. 6005.

blood to those of half blood; those more interested in the estate to those less interested, and the like.

After the next of kin, the creditors have usually the right to administer. In selecting an administrator from the creditors, the statutes often give those with the largest claims the preference, but sometimes those first applying have the preference. In many of the States those having the right to administer, and who do not desire to do so in person, may nominate the administrator.

The person entitled to be appointed administrator or executor may renounce the right, and then, in case of a sole executor, an administrator with the will annexed must be appointed. While in the case of an intestate estate, the right to administer passes to the person next entitled to it.

Contracts to renounce the right to appointment as administrator are usually regarded as opposed to public policy and void, though in a few cases such contracts have been sustained.

Sec. 1036. QUALIFICATION FOR THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATOR.-The person entitled to administration being determined, and being ready and willing to accept the trust, he must qualify for the office. This qualification consists in taking the oath and giving the bond required by the statute, and in an amount fixed by the court according to the value of the estate to be administered. The form of the bond is usually prescribed by statute, but in substance it is conditioned, for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office according to law. The amount of the penalty of

the bond is generally left to be fixed by the court, and is ordinarily fixed at double the amount of the personal property.

Sureties are required in such numbers as the statutes specify. In determining the sufficiency of the execution and form of the bond, the courts give it a liberal construction for the protection of those in whose behalf it was required.

In many of the States an executor is not required to give a bond, if the terms of the will exempt him from the necessity. But in other States the statutory requirement of a bond can not be thus waived.

If for any reason, additional bonds, new sureties, or increased penalties, become necessary for protecting the estate while in the hands of the administrator, or executor, the court is authorized to require them to be furnished. The office cannot be regarded as properly filled until the qualifying bond has been duly given, but a grant of administration without it, would ordinarily be voidable only, and not absolutely void.

Sec. 1037. HOW THE APPOINTMENT IS EVIDENCED.-Upon the due qualification of the officer, the letters of administration will be granted to him, if an administrator; and letters testamentary, if an executor.

Such letters granted by a court having jurisdicțion for that purpose are, while unrevoked, conclusive evidence of the authority of such officer, and cannot be collaterally impeached or attacked, though they may be revoked, by the proper court, in a direct proceeding for

that purpose, or upon appeal from the order awarding them.

A grant by a court without jurisdiction, is void, and confers no right upon any one. Letters granted without authority may be recalled by the court. And by statute in most States, the court is authorized to remove an executor or administrator for certain causes therein specified.

Usually the statutes provide that the executor or administrator may be permitted to resign with the consent of the court, and upon rendering a correct account, but at the Common Law, such an officer could not resign.

The letters thus granted, do not of themselves, constitute the authority of the officer. They are the evidence of his authority but not the only evidence. As evidence of his appointment, and rights as such, they are, when granted by a court of competent jurisdiction, conclusive. But they are not admissible as proof of the death of the intestate, in actions between strangers.

Sec. 1038. WHAT MAY BE DONE BY THE OFFICER BEFORE THE LETTERS ARE ISSUED? It was the theory of the Common Law that the executor derived his authority from the will itself and that his title therefore vested at the testator's death. An administrator, on the contrary, derived his title from the grant of administration. In most of the States the Common Law rule as to executors is repudiated and the executor, like the administrator, derives his title and power from the law, or the grant of authority by the proper tribunal. But in either case, for the protection