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1 Wend. 303

Hartness v. Purcell

New York Supreme Court

Decided October 15, 1828

New York Supreme Court · decided 1828-10-15

Motion to vacate an order to hold to bail. In this case, the defendant was holden to bail in a suit against him as ex- ° eculor, for the recovery of monies owing by the testator in pursuance of a judge’s order, on an affidavit that the defendant had possessed himself of the personal property of the testator, collected debts due to him, and refused to appropriate the same to thé payment of the debts owing by the testator; that he had expressed a determination to leave the…

Decided 1828-10-15

¶1By the Court,

Sutherland, J.

¶2An executor may be holden to bail in case of a devastavit, but the facts disclosed here do not make out a devastavit. The refusal to apply *305the assets which had come to the hands of the defendant to the payment of the debts of the testator, does not amount to it. The debts are not yet established by judgment of law; there may be set offs, or the defendant may have a right to retain in satisfaction of a debt due to himself. The declaration of the intention of defendant to leave the country and not to return, is not enough to justify an order to hold to bail, and it may even be questionable, whether it would warrant the allowance of a ne exeat As to the indemnity of the bail, if a clear case had been shewn, the court might have sustained the order; the fact, however, is not satisfactorily shewn, and the defendant has not had an opportunity to answer in this respect. The motion is granted, but without costs.

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