an ae ae ae 

$74 
An application was in Hilary Term 
Jaft made to the Court fora new trial, on 
the ground that Mr. Thornton wasnoi the 
procurator of the defendant, duly autho- 
’ y 
tifed to accept this bill for her; and it 
was contended, that the attorneys had 
no authority to provide for the payment 
of the teftator’s debts in this manner, 
that they were to adminifter the affets 
or the execuitrix, but'that they could do 
no act, by whi h fhe could become churge- 
able with the debts in her own right, and 
particularly, that they were not autho- 
rifed to give a /ccvily for the payment of 
any debts inher name. The Chiet Juftice 
delivered the opinion of the court. ‘The 
general {cope of the letter of attorney, 
he obferved, was to put the whole effate 
-$nto the hands of the attorneys, to com- 
mit the colle€ting and the difpofition of 
itentirely to them, to delegate to them 
all the. authority that the executrix pof- 
felfed, and to conftitute them as far as 
fuch a thing was poffible, executors in 
her name. The authority to pay, dif- 
charge, and fatisfy debts, was deferibed, 
with a qualification properly applicable 
to this branch of the power, “ agrecably 
to the due erder and courfe of law, to 
pay, dilcharge, and fatisty,”” which he 
“confidered as equivalent to faying “ina 
courfe of adminiftration.”’ The autho- 
rity to pay debts, on the firft view of it, 
feemed to be more confired and fpecified 
than the authority to collect the effedts ; 
but if it were confidered more attentive- 
ly, ic would be found, that the efeét of 
this part of the m(trument, was to com- 
ynit the application of the perional citate 
2 
in payment of debts to thofe attorneys, 
abfclutely and exciufively; and it would 
alfo be found, without the affiftance of 
general words, that an authority of this 
nature necefarily included intermediate 
powers, which were not exprefled. By 
intermediate powers, he meant all the 
means nec flary to be ufed, in order to 
attain the accomplifament of the object 
of the principal power, which in this 
cafe was the paying, Jatisfying, and dif. 
charging tne teffator’s debts. Number- 
lefs arrangements were to be made by 
thofe who were to execute this truit; ac- 
counts might be to be fertled, difputed 
claims to be adjuited, unjuit ccs to be 
refiied, fuits at law andin equity to be 
inftituted and dctended, payments to be 
pofponed or inttalled, accordivg to the 
fate of the fund; and, perhaps, if the 
eftate fhould be difcovered to be’ infol- 
“vent, a cifiribution to be made. among 
the creditors in equal degreg, par: paffit. 
Law Report... Bill of Exchange. 
i 
[ Aug. 
Thefe and many other fubordimate pow” 
ers, though not expreisly given, muft be 
underftood to be included in this power 
to pay debis. The prefeat was not @ 
cafe of mere minifteriai authority, but a 
cafe where the whole care of the admi- 
niftration was delegated by the executrix 
to the attorneys, and all the means of 
executing the office of executrix put into 
their hands; fuch conftruétion, there- 
fore, ought to be made both of the par- 
ticular provifions and general words as 
would, as far as poifible, place the attor- 
nevs where the executrix imtended to 
place them, in her room and ftead, m- 
vefted with all her authority, and all her 
difcretion. Affuming, then, that this au- 
thority to pay debts was larger and imore 
comprehenfive 1m its mature, than the 
words conftrued very friétly would im- 
port, and that it implied authority to 
make all neceflary arrangements which 
the executrix herfelf might make, in 
order to the payment of the debts, it 
might fairly be afked, whether, among 
the arrangements that might be neceflary 
for that purpofe, there was one more 
likely to occur, more ufeful, or, in many 
cafes, more neceflary, than that they 
fhould afk and obtain from the creditors 
of the cftate, time for payment of the 
debts, when the time given might pre- 
vent all the vexation and expence of a 
ftruggle for priority ? Phat an executrix 
herfeif might make this arrangement, 
no one could doubt; that it was alfo ne- 
ceflary that they who were to havg all 
the funds in their hands, who knew, and 
were the only perfons who could know 
within what time thofe funds could be 
got in, and who had the whole applica- 
tion of them entrufted to their care, who 
reprefented the cxecutrix, and in effeét, 
were thernfelves the executors, fuch have 
it in their power to make fuch arrange- 
ment, was equaliy clear, The confe- 
quence of fuch an arrangement in either 
cafe was, that the executrix might, by 
poffibility, becorac perfonally, and in her 
own right, chargeable with debts, as fhe 
might become chargeable, in a variety of 
cther cafes, exprefsly within the power 
of attorney. But upon whatever ground, 
and by whatever medium, in the in- 
ftance of debts poftponed, this perfonal 
charge was produced, the debt full re- 
mained a debt due ‘from the eftate, and 
payable out of the effets, Such an ar- 
rangement 3mounted to an admiulfion, 
that at the expiration of the credit given, 
there would be affets fufficient to pay the 
debt, whicn {till remained a charge upon’ 
the 
