Opinion
(Spring Riding, 1802.)
1. An administrator, on the plea of plene administravit, is bound to prove payment of the debts, but not that they were due.
2. Notice of a bond, before letters of administration taken out, is sufficient to prevent the payment of simple contract debts; notice need not be by suit.
An ex parte proving of a debt before a magistrate is of no avail.
THESE points were resolved by JOHNSTON, J.: First, the administrator, on the plea of plene administravit, need not prove each debt to be due that he paid off; he may prove the payment and the plaintiff may show, if he can, that the debt was not due. Secondly, if a bond be shown to the administrator before letters taken out, and he afterwards pays simple contract debts, he shall not be allowed them; notice of the bond debt need not be by suit; a notice by showing the bond is enough. Thirdly, the practice of proving a simple contract before a justice of the peace is of no use; it is ex parte, and if the debt be not due, that will not execuse [excuse] the administrator; if it be due, the want of such proof will not make the payment void.
NOTE. — On the second point, see Delamothe v. Lanier, 4 N.C. 296.