Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/544

 tha i ordinary : roust alvalys inquire and decide •wl^ftheic itlift person whose estatô isto be cOmmitted tp the care of ath^ys be dead or in lifei It. is ai bjrapch of every cause in ■^l}i<5b lut- tera of administration is&ue. Yet the deeisipn of the ordi- nary that the person on, wbose estate he aqts is dead, if the fact be otherwise, does no,| invest the person he may appoint with the character or powers of an administrator. The case, in truth, was not one within his jurisdiotion. It was not one in which he had a right to deliberate. It was not committed to him by law." �i This ruling was followed in Kane v. Paul, 14 Pet. 33, where it was decided that the grant of administration of an estate, where tbere was an executor entitled to act, ^as void. But when there is a case for the cognizance ol the court,' — that is, an estate of adeceased person wdthout an administra tor, — the oaurt,, upôn the proper application, bas the jurisdiction to act, and- toideterminie every question that may arise.in thecourse. of ;the proceeding, inbluding that of..;the residence of the de- ceasedi i ,-, •;,, i^ ;;,,;<■, ', ■ ■ ,[-... ■■. ■,: ■ �In Fisher V. Bassett, supra, Judgo.Tucker makes the diatinP- tion between the jurisdiction of ther;E|ubjeot^matter of granting, administration of estates, aiid(itbeaiithority to prooeedàna particular case. After stating that be did not consider the; eourity court of ^Virginia the same. a« the ordinary of Engjand, because the former was a court : of record, whoBe judgmen.ts coûld not be questioned, if it had "jurisdiction of thp cause," sajd* "And this is to'be understôod as having reference to juriediction over the subject-mqtter; for though.it may be that the facts do not give jurisdiotion over the particular case, yet if the jurisdiction extenda :oyer that classof cases the judgment eannot be questioned;, for then the question of ju- risdiction enters into, and beeomes an essential part of, the judgment of the court. Thus, if a county court were to give judgment of death against a white man, the sherifF would have no lawf ul authority to execute him ; or, if a court of chancery were to grant probate of a will, it would be ipso facto void, since that court has no jurisdiction in any case of pro- ����