Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/358

322 322 HARVARD LAW REVIEW An executor named in a will could act freely without appoint- ment from the probate court. This followed naturally from the old notion that an executor took title from the will and not from the court. So long as the will was at some time proved, even though the executor had previously died, his acts were valid. In the United States, however, where the executor has to rely on his appointment from the court, the rules in regard to adminis- trators explained above should obtain. The old law is followed, however, in some states. Other courts with more reason treat executors and administrators alike.

Where an executor under a forged will, or an administrator inadvertently appointed in derogation of a nearer relative of the deceased, has his appointment revoked by one entitled to administer, the law with good reason is well settled. If debtors to the estate have paid their debts to the first appointee who has then wasted the money, they are fully protected against another demand by the second appointee. Likewise those who have purchased property of the estate as such for full value with no intent to spirit away the particular chattel or to allow the first representative to divert the proceeds to his own use should be entitled to keep what they have