Page:Hill v. State.pdf/9

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acts, to be taken in connection with it, and see whether demands due to the State are not, by clear and necessary implication, embraced.

The language of the statute is broad and comprehensive. It declares that "all demands, not exhibited to the executor or administrator, as required by this act, before the end of two years from the granting of letters, shall be forever barred." Dig., chap. 4, sec. 98. It embraces, as we have above shown, equitable as well as legal demands. Claims due to corporations, to artificial as well as natural persons, are expressly included. (Sec. 104.) No exceptions are made in favor, of married women, infants, persons insane, imprisoned, or beyond seas. (I Eng. R. 14.) The demands of all, alike, are forever barred, as against the executor or administrator, if not brought forward within the time limited by the act. The general statute of limitations applies to the remedy only, and the debt, after it is barred, may be revived by a new promise, part payment, etc., but the statute of non-claim applies to the right, and when the claim is barred by it, it is forever barred. No promise of the executor or administrator, made in any form, can revive the claim. It is not within their power to allow a demand after the expiration of the two years. The policy of the statute forbids it. The statute need not be pleaded, but the executor or administrator may insist on the bar, at any time before final judgment. 14 Ark. 240.

Upon the death of a person, his entire estate (subject to dower and specific liens, etc., 14 Ark. 246; 18 Ib. 414; 22 Ib. 535), become assets in the hands of his executor or administrator, first, for the payment of all demands brought forward, in the manner prescribed by the statute, within two years from the grant of letters, and then the remainder, if any, to be turned over to the legatees or distributees; who are kept waiting, without even an allowance for maintenance, until the expiration of the two years, unless the Probate Court, upon refunding bonds, executed by them, shall sooner order distribution, etc. (Secs. 149, 150.) And to avoid unnecessary delay