Limitation of Actions.

any kind, to insert or use in their partnership, firm, style, and name, the name of any person not actually a copartner with them at the time his or her name is so inserted or used, nor shall it be lawful to continue, in any partnership, firm, style, and name, the name of any individual partner, after he or she shall have retired from the partnership: Provided, that this act shall not be so construed as to prevent the collection of debts due to any partnership after its dissolution, or after the retirement of any partner, in the name previously used, in conformity with this act.

Penalty for violation.-Each and every individual violating the provisions of this act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every day such name may be used; to be sued for and recovered by any person who may prosecute for the same.

Execution of sealed instruments. In all suits, either in favor of, or against partners, or persons jointly interested, and in all cases where such partners or persons jointly interested, shall in any wise become connected with any suit or other matter, pending in any of the courts of this state, in any way whatsoever, wherein it shall become necessary for said partners or persons jointly interested to give bond, it shall and may be lawful for any one of said partners or persons jointly interested, to execute the same, by signing the names of all of said partners or persons jointly interested; and the same shall be obligatory, and binding upon every of said partners or persons interested.

7. Limitation of Actions.

All actions of trespass, detinue, trover, and replevin, for taking away goods and cattle, all actions upon account and upon the case, other than such accounts as concern the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors or servants, all actions of debt grounded upon any lending or contract without specialty, within four years after the cause of action accrues.

All actions founded upon bonds or instruments under seal, must be brought within twenty years from the maturity of the instrument; all actions founded upon notes and other acknowledgments under the hand of the party, shall be commenced

Effect of Death upon the Rights of Creditors.

within six years from the time such acknowledgment shall be due. There is the usual saving in favor of infants, feme coverts, or persons non compos mentis, of the period of the limitation after the removal of their respective disabilities. (a)

10. Effect of Death upon the Rights of Creditors.

Within three months from the probate of a will or the grant of letters of administration, the executor or administrator shall make out and return an exact inventory of the personal estate, and shall also return an appraisement of the same, made by three or more respectable freeholders, appointed by the court. (b)

Every executor or administrator shall give six weeks' notice by advertisement in one of the papers of the state, or at three dif ferent places of the most public resort in the county, for creditors to give an account of their demands.

Executors or administrators are allowed twelve months from their qualification to ascertain the debts due to and from the deceased and no action may be commenced against them in their representative capacity, until twelve months after the death of the testator or intestate.

They will not be liable to make good the claim of any creditor, who does not present a statement thereof, within the foregoing period.

Debts due by a testator or intestate as guardian, executor or administrator are to be paid before any other debt of such testator or intestate. Executors and administrators are to observe the following order in the payment of debts: first, the funeral and other expenses of the last sickness; second, charges of probate and will, or of the letters of administration; third, debts due to the public; fourth, judgments, mortgages and executions, the eldest first; fifth, rent; sixth, bonds, and other obligations; seventh, debts due on open accounts. Where there is a deficiency of assets, no preference is to be given to creditors of an equal degree, except in the case of judgments, mortgages that shall be recorded from the time of recording, and executions lodged in the sheriff's office, the eldest of which shall be first paid, or in those cases where a creditor may have a lien on any part of the estate. (c)

(a) H. S. L. 541.

(b) Ib. 476.

(c) Ib. 485.

Insolvent Laws.

The real estate of a party who dies charged in execution, may be sold under a new execution, as if such party had never been charged in execution. (a)

Heirs and devisees are liable to creditors of the deceased by bond or specialty, to the value of the lands descended or devised. (b)

Real estate being liable to execution in the same manner as personal, may be taken and sold on a judgment against an executor or administrator, in his representative capacity.

It is the duty of executors and administrators to render an annual account of their administration upon the first of January, to the register of probate of the county in which they have qualified and for neglect in this matter an executor or administrator loses his right to commissions, and renders himself liable for any damages that may be sustained by any party in interest. (c)

The Inferior Courts of each county have jurisdiction and authority as courts of ordinary in all matters testamentary and relating to the administration of the estates of deceased persons, the appointment and qualification of executors and administrators, the settlement of their accounts, distribution of estates, &c. (d)

9. Insolvent Laws.

Any person confined for debt, whether charged in execution or otherwise, who may be unable to satisfy the same, or to give bail for his appearance to the action, and is willing to surrender his estate for the benefit of his creditors, may apply for a discharge as an insolvent debtor to any judge of the Superior Court or justice of the Inferior Court.

The creditors at whose suit the debtor is confined, and also all to whom he is indebted, shall be summoned, thirty days beforehand, to appear personally, or by attorney, at a day to be appointed for the examination of the debtor and his condition; the notice to be served personally upon or left at the usual place of abode of creditors residing in the state, or where they reside out of the state, to be served in the same manner upon their attorneys, or if they have no attorney, then the notice is to be published for two months previous in one of the Savannah or Augusta papers. The court at

(a) H. S. L. 602.

(b) Ib. 459.

(c) Ib. 476.

(d) Ib. 686.

Proceedings in Civil Suits.

such time is to examine into the matter of the petition and into any suggestions which may be made of fraud on the part of the debtor, for the trial of which a jury may be impanneled. If the court shall be satisfied of the insolvency of the petitioner, and the fairness of his proceedings, they shall administer to him the usual oath of an insolvent debtor, and direct him to deliver over and assign to some person or persons, who shall be nominated by a majority of the creditors, his whole estate real and personal, in trust for and to the use of his judgment creditors. The debtor is then to be discharged from imprisonment, and his body cannot be taken in execution upon either mesne or final process, on account of any debt contracted previously to such discharge. The property, both real and personal, which such debtor may acquire is however always subject to be taken in execution by his creditors.

A debtor imprisoned upon a ca. sa. may release his body, upon tendering to the officer a bond with sufficient surety, conditioned for his appearance at the next term of the court, from which the process issued, and applying for a discharge as an insolvent. If this bond is forfeited for any other reason than the sickness or death of the debtor, judgment will be entered up against principal and securities, upon which no indulgence will be allowed. If the debtor appears, ten days' previous notice having been given to his creditors of his intention, he may take the oath of insolvency, and upon surrendering his estate be exempted from future imprisonment in every case in which notice has been given to his creditors. Where any creditor suggests fraud or concealment on the part of his debtor, an issue may be made up for the trial of the same by a jury, and if it shall be found against the debtor, he will be committed. (a)

10. Proceedings in Civil Suits.

Attachment. Where any debtor is a non-resident, or where he is actually removing without the limits of the state, or of any county, or where he absconds or conceals himself, or defies the sheriff, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon him, any judge of the Superior Court, or justice of the Inferior Court, or justice of the peace, may, on affidavit made of such fact

(a) H. S. L. 308 to 315.

Proceedings in Civil Suits.

by a creditor or his agent, grant an attachment against the estate of the debtor, or so much thereof, as may be necessary to satisfy the plaintiff's demand. It is the duty of the sheriff to levy such writ upon any estate, real or personal, of the debtor wherever to be found, and to summon all persons indebted to, or having in possession effects of the debtor, to appear at the next court to be held for the county, and answer as to the same. If the return of the garnishee is disputed, an issue may be made up to try the same, and judgment will be rendered according to the verdict of a jury.

There are the usual provisions for the sale of property, where it is perishable, the replevy of it by the defendant, judg ment against the garnishee, trial of the right of property where it is contested, &c.

The judgment in attachment only binds the property attached, unless the defendant has become a party to the attachment, or has returned to the county after the emanation of the writ, and been served with personal notice of the proceedings ten days before final judgment, in either of which cases a judgment will bind the entire estate of the defendant.

The attachment first served is in every instance to be first satisfied.

Where a debtor whose obligation is not due, is about to remove, or is removing beyond the limits of the state, any creditor or his agent, upon making oath to such fact and also to the amount of the indebtedness, may obtain an attachment against his property.

There are also special provisions for attachments against insurance companies carrying on business in the state of Georgia, and also in favor of securities who have paid the debt of the principal, or against whom process is pending for the collection of the same, or where, before the maturity of the claim, the principal debtor is about removing his property from the state.

Attachments may also issue in all cases where a suit has been instituted, and pending the suit, the defendant places himself in a situation in which the suing out an attachment would have been authorized. (a)

(a) H. S. L. 550 to 560.