Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/329

 209 U.S. Opinion of the Court. By the Porto Rican .Code of Civil Procedure (article 62, paragraph 5), power to ad,ninister estates, both testamentary and intestate, is vested in the judge of the last place of resi- dence of the deceased. That the power thus conferred is ex- clusive is shown by the text of the sa,ne article and by the comprehens!ve grant of authority embraced in the provisions of the code which follow, relating to the scttlcmcnt of both testamentary and intestate successions. That it embraces authority to entertain and dispose of all actions, whether real 'or personal, necessarily incidental to the accomplishment of the powers granted over estates, is shown by the proyisions of article 1001 of the same code. The similarity between the provisions of the Louisiana code as to the community and the analogY which obtains between the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Practice and the Code of Civil Procedure of Porte Rico, concerning the power of the judge or court charged with the administration of estates, whether testamentary or intestate, especially where questions concerning the liquidation of a community, which has existed between husband and wife, is concerned, make pertinent the observations of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in Lawson etux. v. Ripley, 17 Louisiana, 238, 248, where it vas said: "The succession of the husband, is therefore so far connected with the community as to form together, at the time of his death, an entire mass called his estate, which is not only liable for the payment of the common debts, but also for the por- tion of the wife or her heirs to the residue, if they have not re- nounced. The widow or he,' repre..ctativcs have consequently such an interest in the mass of the estate or succession of the husband, with regard to whom no distinction is made between his separate property and that of the community until the net proceeds or amount of the acqucts and gains are ascertained, that their aistance at the inventory and their concurrence at all the proceedings relative thereto, which are to be carried on contradictorily with them, are generally required. All such proceedings take place before the court of probates who,

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