Executor

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Executor \Ex*ec"u*tor\, n. [L. executor, exsecutor: cf. F.
     ex['e]cuteur. Cf. {Executer}.]
     1. One who executes or performs; a doer; as, an executor of
        baseness. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. An executioner. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Delivering o'er to executors paw?
              The lazy, yawning drone.              --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) The person appointed by a testator to execute his
        will, or to see its provisions carried into effect, after
        his decease.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Executor de son tort} [Of., executor of his own wrong]
        (Law), a stranger who intermeddles without authority in
        the distribution of the estate of a deceased person.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  executor
       n : a person appointed by a testator to carry out the terms of
           the will

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  65 Moby Thesaurus words for "executor":
     actor, agent, ancestors, apprentice, architect, artificer, artist,
     author, begetter, beginner, builder, conceiver, constructor,
     craftsman, creator, designer, deviser, discoverer, doer, effector,
     engenderer, engineer, executant, executrix, fabricator, father,
     founder, generator, grower, inaugurator, industrialist, initiator,
     instigator, institutor, introducer, inventor, journeyman, maker,
     manufacturer, master, master craftsman, medium, mother, mover,
     operant, operative, operator, organizer, originator, past master,
     performer, perpetrator, planner, practitioner, precursor,
     prime mover, producer, raiser, realizer, shaper, sire, smith,
     subject, worker, wright
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  EXECUTOR, trusts. The word executor, taken in its largest sense, has several 
  acceptations. 1. Executor dativus, who is one called an administrator to an 
  intestate. 2. Executor testamentarius, or one appointed to the office by the 
  last will of a testator, and this is what is usually meant by the term. 
       2. In the civil law, the person who is appointed to perform the duties 
  of an executor as to goods, is called haeres testamentarius; the term 
  executor, it is said, is a barbarism unknown to that law. 3 Atk. 304. 
       3. An executor, as the term is at present accepted, is the person to 
  whom the execution of a last will and testament of personal estate is, by 
  the testator's appointment, confided, and who has accepted of the same. 2 
  Bl. Com. 503; 2 P. Wms. 548; Toller, 30; 1 Will. on Ex. 112 Swinb. t. 4, s. 
  2, pl. 2. 
       4. Generally speaking, all persons who are capable of making wills may 
  be executors, and some others beside, as infants and married women. 2 Bl. 
  Corn. 503. 
       5. An executor is absolute or qualified; his appointment is absolute 
  when he is constituted certainly, immediately, and without restriction in 
  regard to the testator's effects, or limitation in point of time. It may be 
  qualified by limitation as to the time or place wherein, or the subject 
  matters whereon, the office is to be exercised; or the creation of the 
  office may be conditional. It may be qualified. 1st. By limitations in point 
  of time, for the time may be limited when the person appointed shall begin, 
  or when he shall cease to be executor; as if a man be appointed executor 
  upon the marriage of testator's daughter. Swinb. p. 4, s. 17, pl. 4. 2. The 
  appointment may be limited to a place; as, if one be appointed executor of 
  all the testator's goods in the state of Pennsylvania. 3. The power of the 
  executor may be limited as to the subject matter upon which if is to be 
  exercised; as, when a testator appoints. A the executor of his goods and 
  chattels in possession; B, of his choses in action. One may be appointed 
  executor of one thing, only, as of a particular claim or debt due by bond, 
  and the like. Off. Ex. 29; 3 Phillim. 424. But although a testator may thus 
  appoint separate executors of distinct parts of his property, and may divide 
  their authority, yet quoad the creditors of the testator they are all 
  executors, and act as one executor, and may be sued as one executor. Cro. 
  Car. 293. 4. The appointment may be conditional, and the condition may be 
  either precedent or subsequent. Godolph. Orph. Leg. pt. 2, c. 2, s. 1; Off. 
  Ex. 23. 
       6. An executor derives his interest in the estate of the deceased 
  entirely from the will, and it vests in him from the moment of the 
  testator's death. 1 Will. Ex. 159; Com. Dig. Administration, B 10; 5 B. & A. 
  745; 2 W. Bl. Rep. 692. He acquires an absolute legal title to the 
  personalty by appointment, but nothing in the lands of the testator, except 
  by devise. He can touch nothing which was not personal at the testator's 
  decease, except by express direction. 9 Serg. & Rawle, 431; Gord. Law Dec. 
  93. Still his interest in the goods of the deceased is not that absolute, 
  proper and ordinary interest, which every one has in his own proper goods. 
  He is a mere trustee to apply the goods for such purposes as are sanctioned 
  by law. 4 T. R. 645; 9 Co. 88; 2 Inst. 236; Off. Ex. 192. He represents the 
  testator, and therefore may sue and recover all the claims he had at the 
  time of his death and may be sued for all debts due by him. 1 Will. Ex. 508, 
  et seq. By the common law, however, such debts as were not due by some 
  writing could not be recovered against the executors of a deceased debtor. 
  The remedy was only in conscience or by a quo minus in the exchequer. 
  Afterwards an action on the case in banco regis was given. Crom t. Jurisdic. 
  66, b; Plowd. Com. 183: 11 H. VII. 26. 
       7. The following are the principal duties of an executor: 1. Within a 
  convenient time after the testator's death, to collect the goods of the 
  deceased, provided he can do so peaceably; when he is resisted, he must 
  apply to the law for redress. 
       8.-2. To bury the deceased in a manner suitable to the estate he 
  leaves behind him; and when there is just reason to believe he died 
  insolvent, he is not warranted in expending more in funeral expenses (q.v.) 
  than is absolutely necessary. 2 Will. Ex. 636; 1 Salk. 296; 11 Serg. & 
  Rawle, 204 14 Serg. & Rawle, 64. 
       9.-3. The executor should prove the will in the proper office. 
      10.-4. He should make an inventory (q.v.) of the goods of the 
  intestate, which should be filed in the office. 
      11.-5. He should ascertain the debts and credits of the estate, and 
  endeavor to collect all claims with as little delay as possible, 
  consistently with the interest of the estate. 
      12.-6. He should advertise for debts and credits: see forms of 
  advertisements, 1 Chit. Pr. 521. 
      13.-7. He should reduce the whole of the goods, not specifically 
  bequeathed into money, with all due expedition. 
      14.-8. Keep the money of the estate safely, but not mixed with his 
  own, or he may be charged interest on it. 
      15.-9. Be at all times ready to account, and actually file an account 
  within a year. 
      16.-10. Pay the debts and legacies in the order required by law. 
      17. Co-executors, however numerous, are considered, in law, as an 
  individual person, and; consequently, the acts of any one of them, in 
  respect of the administration of the assets, are deemed, generally, the acts 
  of all. Bac. Ab. Executor, D; Touch. 484; for they have all a joint and 
  entire authority over the whole property Off. Ex. 213; 1 Rolle's Ab. 924; 
  Com. Dig. Administration, B 12. On the death of one or more of several joint 
  executors, their rights and powers survive to the survivors. 
      18. When there are several executors and all die, the power is in common 
  transferred to the executor of the last surviving executor, so that he is 
  executor of the first testator; and the law is the same when a sole executor 
  dies leaving an executor, the rights are vested in the latter. This rule has 
  been changed, in Pennsylvania, and, perhaps, some other states, by 
  legislative provision; there, in such case, administration cum testamento 
  annexo must be obtained, the right does not survive to the executor of the 
  executor. Act of Pennsylvania, of March 15 1832. s. 19. In general, 
  executors are not responsible for each other, and they have a right to 
  settle separate accounts. See Joint, Executors. 
      19. Executors may be classed into general and special; instituted and 
  substituted; rightful and executor de son tort; and executor to the tenor. 
      20. A general executor is one who is appointed to administer the whole 
  estate, without any limit of time or place, or of the subject-matter. 
      21. A special executor is one. who is appointed or constituted to 
  administer either a part of the estate, or the whole for a limited time, or 
  only in a particular place. 
      22. An instituted executor is one who is appointed by the testator 
  without any condition, and who has the first right of acting when there are 
  substituted executors. An example will show the difference between an 
  instituted and substituted executor: suppose a man makes his son his 
  executor, but if he will not act, he appoints his brother, and if neither 
  will act, his cousin; here the son is the instituted executor, in the first 
  degree, the brother is said to be substituted in the second degree, and the 
  cousin in the third degree, and so on. See Heir, instituted, and Swinb. pt. 
  4, s. 19, pl. 1. 
      23. A substituted executor is a person appointed executor, if another 
  person who has been appointed refuses to act. 
      24. A rightful executor is one lawfully appointed by the testator, by 
  his will. Deriving his authority from the will, he may do most acts, before 
  he obtains letters testamentary, but he must be possessed of them before. he 
  can declare in action brought by him, as such. 1 P. Wms. 768; Will. on Ex. 
  173. 
      25. An executor de son tort, or of his own wrong, is one, who, without 
  lawful authority, undertakes to act. as executor of a person deceased. To 
  make fin executor de son tort, the act of the party must be, 1. Unlawful. 2. 
  By asserting ownership, as taking goods or cancelling a bond, and not 
  committing a mere, trespass. Dyer, 105, 166; Cro. Eliz. 114. 3. An act done 
  before probate of will, or granting letters of administration. 1 Salk. 313. 
  One may be executor de son tort when acting under a forged will, which has 
  been set aside. 3 T. R. 125. An executor de son tort. The law on this head 
  seems to have been borrowed from the civil law doctrine of pro hoerede 
  gestio. See Heinnec. Antiq. Syntagma, lib. 2, tit., 17, Sec. 16, p. 468. He 
  is, in general, held responsible for all his acts, when he does anything 
  which might prejudice the estate, and receives no, advantage whatever in 
  consequence of his assuming the office. He cannot sue a debtor of the 
  estate, but may be sued generally as executor. See a good reading on the 
  liabilities of executors de son tort, in: Godolph. Orph. Legacy, 91, 93, and 
  10 Wentw. Pl. 378, for forms of declaring; also, 5 Co. Rep. 50 31 a; Yelv. 
  137; 1 Brownlow, 103; Salk. 28; Ham. Parties, 273; Imp. Mod. Pl. 94. As to 
  what acts will make a person liable as executor de son tort, see Godolph. O 
  ubi sup.; Gord. Law of Dec. 87, 89; Off. Ex. 181; Bac. Ab. Executor, &c., B 
  3; 11 Vin. Ab. 215; 1 Dane's Ab. 561; Bull. N. P. 48; Com. Dig. 
  Administration C 3  Ham. on Part. 146 to 156; 8 John. R. 426; 7 John. R. 
  161; 4 Mass. 654; 3 Penna. R. 129; 15 Serg. & Rawle, 39. 
      26.-2. The usurpation of an office or character cannot confer the 
  rights and privileges of it, although it may charge the usurper with the 
  duties and obligations annexed to it. On this principle an executor de son 
  tort is an executor only for the purpose of being sued, not for the purpose, 
  of suing. In point of form, he is sued as if he were a rightful executor. He 
  is not denominated in the declaration executor (de son tort) of his own 
  wrong. It would be improper to allege that the deceased person with whose 
  estate he has intermeddled died intestate. Nor can he be made a co-defendant 
  with a rightful executor. Ham. Part. 146, 272, 273; Lawes on Plead. 190, 
  note; Com. Dig. Abatement, F 10. If he take out letters of administration, 
  he is still liable to be sued as executor, and in general, it is better to 
  sue him as executor than as administrator. Godolph. 0. Leg. 93, 94, 95, Sec. 
  2, 3. 
      27. An executor to the tenor. This phrase is based in the ecclesiastical 
  law, to denote a person who is not directly appointed by the will an 
  executor, but who is charged with the duties which appertain to one; as, "I 
  appoint A B to discharge all lawful demands against my will." 3 Phill. 116; 
  1 Eccl. Rep. 374; Swinb. 247 Wentw. Ex. part 4, s. 41 p. 230. Vide. 
  generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.; 11 Vin. Ab. h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; 
  Rolle, Ab. h.t.; Nelson's Ab. h.t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; Com. Dig. 
  Administration; 1 Supp. to Ves. jr. 8, 90, 356, 438; 2 Id. 69; 1 Vern. 302-
  3; Yelv. 84 a; 1 Salk. 318; 18 Engl. C. L. Rep. 185; 10 East, 295; 2 Phil. 
  Ev. 289; 1 Rop. Leg.' 114; American Digests, h.t.; Swinburne, Williams, 
  Lovelass, and Roberts' several treatises on the law of Executors; Off. Ex. 
  per totum; Chit. Pr. Index; h.t. For the various pleas that may be pleaded 
  by executors, see 7 Wentw. Plead. 596, 602; 10 Id. 378; Cowp. 292. For the 
  origin and progress of the law in relation to executors, the reader is 
  referred to 5 Toull. n. 576, note; Glossaire du Droit Francais, par 
  Delauriere, verbo Executeurs Testamentaires, and the same author on art. 
  297, of the Custom of Paris; Poth. Des Donations Testamen taires.