The first question presented by the record is whether it was competent for the administrator de bonis non of the estate of Ames to sue on the bond of the principal administrator to recover money collected by him from the United States and not paid over or accounted for. It is well settled at common law that 'the title of an administrator de bonis non extends only to the goods and personal estate, such as leases for years, household goods, etc., which remain in specie and were not administered by the first executor or administrator, as also to all debts due and owing to the testator or intestate.' Bac. Abr. tit. 'Executors and Administrators, B 2, 2;' citing Packman's Case, 6 Coke, 19.
In illustration of this rule the same authority says:
'It is holden that if an executor receives money in right of the testator, and lays it up by itself and dies intestate, that this money shall go to the administrator de bonis non, being as easily distinguished as part of the testator's effects, as goods in specie. But if A. dies intestate, and his son takes out administration to him and receives part of a debt, being rent arrear to the intestate, and accepts a promissory note for the residue, and then dies intestate, this acceptance of the note is such an alteration of the property as vests it in the son; and therefore, on his death, it shall go to his administrator, and not to the administrator de bonis non.'
An administrator de bonis non derives his title from the deceased, and not from the former executor or administrator. To him is committed only the administration of the goods, chattels, and credits of the deceased which have not been administered. He is entitled to all the goods and personal estate which remain in specie. Money received by thf former executor or administrator, in his character as such, and kept by itself, will be so regarded; but if mixed with the administrator's own money, it is considered as connected, or as, technically speaking, 'administered.' Beall v. New Mexico, 16 Wall. 535; Wernick's Adm'r v. McMurdo, 5 Rand. 51; Bank of Penn. v. Haldeman, 1 Pen. & W. 161; Kendall v. Lee and Potts v. Smith, 3 Rawle, 361; Bell v. Speight, 11 Humph. 451; Swink's Adm'r v. Snodgrass, 17 Ala. 653; Slaughter v. Froman, 5 T. B. Mon. 19; Gamble v. Hamilton, 7 Mo. 469; Wiggin v. Swett, 6 Metc. 194; State v. Johnson, 7 Blackf. 529.
In the case of Beall v. New Mexico, supra, it was said by Mr. Justice BRADLEY, speaking for this court, that 'by the English law, as administered by the ecclesiastical courts, the administrator who is displaced, or the representative of a deceased administrator or executor intestate, are required to account directly to the persons beneficially interested in the estate,-distributees, next of kin, or creditors,-and the accounting may be made or enforced in the probate court, which is the proper court to supervise the conduct of administrators and executors. To the administrator de bonis non is committed only the administration of the goods, chattels, and credits of the deceased which have not been administered.' Such was the law of Maryland before the organization of the District to be in the district, unless changed by statute. In the case of Hagthorp v. Hook's Adm'rs, 1 Gill & J. 270, it was held by the court of appeals of Maryland that the authority conferred by the letters of administration de bonis non, issued under the act of 1798, No. 101, c. 14, § 2, was 'to administer all things described in the act of assembly as assets not converted into money, and not distributed, delivered, or retained by the former executor or administrator under the direction of the orphans' court. Such an administrator can only sue for those goods, chattels, and credits which his letters authorize him to administer.'
To the same effect are the cases of Sibley v. Williams, 3 Gill & J. 52; Hagthorp v. Neale, 7 Gill & J. 13; and Lemmon v. Hall, 20 Md. 171.
In the case of Ennis v. Smith, 14 How. 400, it was said by this court:
'We understand by the laws of Maryland, ad they stood when congress assumed jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, that the property of a deceased person was considered to be administered whenever it was sold or converted into money by the administrator or executor, or in any respect changed from the condition in which the deceased left it. It did not go to the administrator de bonis non unless, on the death of the executor or administrator, it remained in specie or was the same then that it had been when it came to his hands. When the assets have been changed, it is said in Maryland that they have been administered.'