In Re Administration of Franks

Schenck, J. Although there are 22 assignments of error in the record, the assignments relied upon by the appellant are not set out by number and page of the record in its brief as required by Eule 28 of practice in this Court. However, we gather from the brief and the argument made before us that the chief reliance of the appellant is based upon the exceptions to the findings of the fact that the decedents had sufficient personal property in Henderson County, North Carolina, to constitute bona notabilia, and thereby justified the appointment of an administrator in such county. The evidence tended to show that the late Mrs. Franks owned the automobile involved in the fatal collision and that it was worth from $200.00 to $800.00 immediately after such collision and that it was unlawfully removed after her death from Henderson County, North Carolina, to Spartanburg, South Carolina, by one DeVault, a liability insurance agent, thereby giving rise to a cause of action against said DeYault for such unlawful removal; and that C. D. Weeks had in his possession certain portions of said automobile which were not removed from the State, worth $25.00. The evidence further tended to show that the late Mr. Franks at the time of his death had and left in Henderson County a watch of the value $25.00, and cash and travelers checks to the amount of $50.00; and that the greater portion of such property was unlawfully removed from North Carolina, thereby giving rise to a cause of action against the person or persons guilty of such removal. This evidence was sufficient to support the findings of fact of the court, and such facts are sufficient to support the conclusions of law contained in the judgment of the court. *180 Since 1603, in tbe reign of James I, bona notabilia in England seems to have been fixed at a minimum of five pounds. 2 Rl. Comm., 509. If such, an amount be bona notabilia in North Carolina, there can be no doubt that there was sufficient evidence to justify the findings to that effect as to the estates of both decedents; or, if bona notabilia be construed to mean what the words literally signify, “notable goods; property worthy of notice, or of sufficient value to be accounted for,” Black’s Law Dictionary (2d Ed.), the findings are likewise sustained by the evidence. "We do not concur in the argument advanced by the appellant that C. S., 65 (a), fixes in this State the amount of bona notabilia at $300.00. This statute simply provides a method by which a debtor in the sum of $300.00 or less to an estate for which no administrator has been appointed may relieve himself of such debt by paying the amount thereof to the clerk of the Superior Court. This statute simply provides the debtor a permissive right and is in no wise mandatory upon him, such right as is given is alternative and not exclusive — and besides, this statute has no application to the case at bar for the reason that it is not applicable to Henderson County, wherein the letters of administration were issued to C. D. "Weeks. We are of the opinion, and so hold, that the decedents, Ruth M. Pranks and Paul E. Pranks, not being domiciled in this State, but having died intestate in Henderson County, North Carolina, leaving assets in the State, the clerk of the Superior Court of Henderson County had jurisdiction in said county to grant letters of administration to C. D. Weeks. O. S., 1 (4). Certainly this is true in the absence of any suggestion that anyone had a prior right to such letters or of C. D. Weeks not being a proper person to act as such administrator. The judgment of the judge of the Superior Court is sustained by the evidence and the law, and for this reason is Affirmed.