Assumpsit against executors for money

Abstract

The decision in Slade’s Case (1602) that the action of assumpsit could be brought for not paying a debt left open the question whether it would lie against a debtor’s executors. Executors had been immune from actions by writ of debt, unless there was a sealed acknowledgment of indebtedness, since they could not wage their testator’s law; but wager of law was not relevant in assumpsit. This chapter shows how the availability of assumpsit against executors, to recover debts from a deceased debtor’s estate, was a controversial question between the King’s Bench and Common Pleas, and how it was finally settled in 1611 in favour of allowing the action.