Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/551

 536 FSDEBAL BEFOfiTEB. �on the said bonds, entering a credit therefor on his $250,000 judg- ment. Of this application complaint is made by Coons & Braine, who insist that these moneys should have been applied first to the matured interest coupons embraced in Tome's eaiiier judgment, (for $19,248.63,) and thereby that judgment would have beeu almost entirely paid, to the relief of the complainants. But upon what prin- ciple can the complainants control the application of the Insurance moneys ? What equities have they superior to those of Jacob Tome ? I perceive none. The corporation, it is to be observed, did not under- take to direct the application, and is not objecting to the appropri- ation made by Tome. His appropriation is the very one the law itself would have made, in the absence of any by Tome or the corporation ; for it is well settled that the law will apply a payment in the way most beneficiai to the creditor, and ther'tf ore to the debt least secured. Field v. Holland, 6 Cranch, 8 ; Pierce v, ^weet, 33 Pa. St. 151 ; Foster V. McOraw, 64 Pa. St. 464. �Let a decree be drawn in accordance with the views expres sed in this opinion. ���McDebmott and others v. Copeland and another. �{Circuit Court, E. D. Michigan. December 12, 1881.) �1. E<iniTT — Dbcbdknt'8 Estatk— Bill bt a Distributhe. �A bill in equity will not lie in a circuit court by a distributee, against the exeoutors of an estate, to compel them to collect and pay over to complain- ants their distributive sbares of the estate, where no fraud is charged, and it appears the estate has been closed in the probate court, the executors dis- charged, and an order entered for the distribution of the estate, which con- sisted of property then in the hands of a surving partner of the decedent. �2. Executors — Dutibs of, undeb the Laws of Michigan. �By the laws of Michigan an executor is not bound to take possession of the estate any further than is necessary to pay the debts, funeral charges, expanses of administration, specifie legacies, etc., and the probate court may then set ofE the residue to the persons entitled thereto, who may bring suit to recover it directiy against the parties in possession. �In Equity. �This was a bill in equity by distributees against executors to cotnpel an accounting and allotment to the complainants of their respective shares in the estate of Frank Nevin, late deceased. The bill set forth in substance that .Ifevin died in 1878, and by his will, which was admitted to probate, defend- ants were appointed his executors ; that decedent was a partner of one Mills in the tobacco business, and a large portion of his estate was invested in the pioperty of the firm, which was sold to Mills; that of the purcliase priee. ��� �