Extracted From:
  A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856
  by John Bouvier
  CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA

LETTERS AD COLLIGENDUM BONA DE FUNCTI, practice. In default of the
representatives and creditors to administer to the estate of an intestate, the
officer entitled to grant letters of administration, may grant to such person as
he approves, letters to collect the goods of the deceased, which neither make
him executor nor administrator; his only business being to collect the goods and
keep them in his safe custody....

LETTERS TESTAMENTARY, AND OF ADMINISTRATION. It is proposed to consider,
   1. Their different kinds.
   2. Their effect. 

   1. Their different kinds.
   LETTERS TESTAMENTARY. This is an instrument in writing, granted by the judge
or officer having jurisdiction of the probate of wills, under his hand and
official seal, making known that on the day of the date of the said letters, the
last will of the testator, (naming him,) was duly proved before him; that the
testator left goods, &c., by reason, whereof, and the probate of the said will,
he certifies "that administration of all and singular, the goods, chattels,
rights and credits of the said deceased, any way concerning his last will and
testament, was committed to the executor, (naming him,) in the said testament
named." 

   LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION may be described to be an instrument in writing,
granted by the judge or officer having jurisdiction and power of granting such
letters, thereby giving the administrator, (naming him,)," full power to
administer the goods, chattels, rights and credits, which were of the said
deceased, in the county or, district in which the said judge or officer has
jurisdiction; as also to ask, collect, levy, recover and receive the credits
whatsoever, of the said deceased, which at the time of his death were owing, or
did in any way belong to him, and to pay the debts in which the said deceased
stood obliged, so far forth as the said goods and chattels, rights and credits
will extend, according, to the rate and order of law."

   LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION PENDENTE LITE, are letters granted during the
pendency of a suit in relation to a paper purporting to be the last will and
testament of the deceased.

   LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION DE BONIS NON, are granted, where the former
executor or administrator did not administer all the personal estate of the
deceased, and where he is dead or has been discharged or dismissed. Letters of
administration, durante minori aetate, are granted where the testator, by his
will, appoints an infant executor, who is incapable of acting on account of his
infancy. Such letters remain in force until the infant arrives at an age to take
upon himself the execution of the will.... Letters of administration durante
absentia, are granted when the executor happens to be absent at the time when
the testator died, and it is necessary that some person should act immediately
in the management of the affairs of the estate. 

   2. Of their effect.
   Letters testamentary are conclusive as to personal property, while they
remain unrevoked; as to realty they are merely prima facie evidence of right....
Proof that the testator was insane, or that the will was forged, is
inadmissible.... But if the nature of his plea allow the defendant to enter into
such proof, he may show that the seal of the supposed probate has been forged,
or that the letters have been obtained by surprise ... or been revoked....
   The effect of letters testamentary, and of administration granted, in some
one of the United States, is different in different states. A brief view of the
law on this subject will here be given, taking the states in alphabetical
order.... 
   North Carolina. It was decided by the court of conference, then the highest
tribunal in North Carolina, that letters granted in Georgia were
insufficient.... But the supreme court have since held that letters testamentary
granted in South Carolina, were sufficient to enable an executor to sue in North
Carolina....
   By the revised statutes, ch. 46, s. 6, it is provided, that "where a testator
or testatrix shall appoint any person, residing out of this state, executor or
executrix of his or her last will and testament, it shall be the duty of the
court of pleas and quarter sessions, before which the said will shall be offered
for probate, to cause the executor or executrix named therein, to enter into
bond with good and sufficient security for his or her faithful administration of
the estate of the said testator or testatrix and for the distribution thereof in
the manner prescribed by law; the penalty of said bond shall be double the
supposed amount of the personal estate of the said testator or testatrix; and
until the said executor or executrix shall enter into such bond, he or she shall
have no power nor authority to intermeddle with the estate of the said testator
or testatrix; and the court of the county in which the testator or testatrix had
his or her last usual place of residence, shall proceed to, grant letters of
administration with the will annexed, which shall continue in force until the
said executor or executrix shall enter into bond as aforesaid. Provided
nevertheless, and it is hereby declared, that the said executor or executrix
shall enter into bond as by this act directed within the space of one year after
the death of the said testator, or testatrix, and not afterwards." 
   South Carolina. Executors and administrators of other states, cannot, as
such, sue in South Carolina; they must take out letters in the state....

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