This was sent to the NJ list I am on= It may help all of you searching for earlier info in NJ wills, decrees, etc= hope so! linda CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM OF RECORDING WILLS [beginning page lxxviii] Until 1804 it was the practice, no matter where or before whom wills were proved, to send them to the Register of the Prerogative Court to be recorded – at Perth Amboy, Burlington or Trenton, as the case might be. By an act passed November 9, 1803, a new system was instituted. It was provided in the statute that the surrogate general should, at the expense of the State, provide the several surrogates with seals, with one uniform device. Up to this time it had been the rule to record all wills in the office of the Register of the Prerogative Court, but this act provided that wills, letters of guardianship and all letters testamentary and administrations granted and issued by the surrogate, and also all inventories by him received, should be him recorded in his office, which records should have the same force, validity, and effect, as the like records in the registry of the prerogative office. The original wills were to be transmitted quarterly to the register of the prerogative court, to be filed in his office. This continues to be the usual practice, but the original jurisdiction of the Ordinary has remained. By this act the surrogates were also vested with the powers of the Ordinary in the appointment of guardians or persons under twenty-one years, subject to an appeal to the prerogative court.3 Where suitable offices were provided for the accommodation, surrogates were required to keep their books and records therein, by an act passed December 1, 1804.4 It was made the dutry of the register of the prerogative court, by an act passed November 25, 1808, to keep an alphabetical index of testators, and to put up the wills of each year and county by themselves; also to keep an index of intestates, inventories of whose estates he might receive, and to file such inventories.5 This act was embodied in a revision passed May 27, 1820.6 3 Bloomfield, 96 4 Ibid., 140; Rev. 525 5 Ibid., 203. These indexes, covering the period from 1765 to 1804, were printed under the direction of the Secretary of State, in two volumes, in a limited edition, in 1901 and 1902. 6 Rev. 728. [page lxxix] The orphan’s court was given power, by an act passed March 1, 1804, to appoint guardians of idiots or lunatics, and to direct the sale of their lands for the payment of their debts, and the support of their households, if they had any.1 This act was revised and amended, Feb. 28, 1820.2 Some later legislation may be briefly noted here: Where commissioners appointed to divide lands between coparceners, joint-tenants, tenants in common, guardians of minors or trustees, should be of the opinion that the lands were so circumstanced that a partition thereof could not be made without great prejudice to the owners of the same, the court appointing them might order the commissioners or persons appointed to make partition, to sell the lands and pay the proceeds to the parties interested; the guardians of persons undert the age of twenty-one years, entitled to a proportion of the moneys arising from any such sale, to be required to give bond to the Governor.3 Where a debtor had made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, the assignee was required by an act passed February 23, 1820, to exhibit to the surrogate of the county and inventory and valuation of the estate so assigned, and enter into bond to the state for the faithful performance of the trust; the surrogate was directed to endorse the receipt and said bond on the deed of assignment, after which the same was to be recorded in the County Clerk’s office.4 “A Supplement to the act relative to dower,” passed February 24, 1820, gave the Orphans’ Court jurisdiction in the appointment of commissioners to set off dower, with an appeal to the surrogate-general. Where a husband died seized of lands in two or more counties, the commissioners were to be appointed by the Ordinary or Surrogate-General.5 1 Bloomfield’s Laws, 117 2 Rev. 696 3 Act passed February 7, 1816. Rev. 598. And see act passed March 10, 1836 (Pamph. L. 1836, p. 395). 4 Rev. 674 5 Rev. 678. REVISION OF THE ACT OF 1784 [beginning page lxxix] The act passed December 6, 1784, entitled “An Act to Ascertain the Power and Authority of the Ordinary and his Sur- [page lxxx] rogates, to Regulate the Jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court, and to Establish an Orphan’s Court in the several counties of the State,” and all the other acts relating to the same subject, were revised and codified in a new statute with the same title, passed June 13, 1820.1 In this revision the plural form was followed in designating “The Orphans’ Court,” instead of the singular number, as in the original act. Section 1 omits the provision extending the jurisdiction of the Ordinary to marriage licenses. Section 4 provides that the Ordinary shall appoint but one deputy or surrogate in each county, whos power and authority shall be limited to such county. Section 6 of the old act, requiring the judges of the Orphans’ Court to take an oath of office, is omitted. Section 7 of the new act authorizes the court to require security of guardians, and also to demand new security where the court deems that previously given to be insufficient. It omits the provision authorizing the Ordinary to grant letters of administration. Section 8 extends to the guardians as well as administrators the provision in Section 7 relative to security.2 Section 9 provides that upon the application of the surety of an administrator or guardian the court may order an investigation of his accounts, and may require security for the true payment of the balance remaining in his hands, otherwise the court may revoke the letters of administration or guardianship, and grant the same to other persons. Section 11 of the new act regulates the investment of moneys by executors, administrators, trustees or guardians, such investment to made under the direction of the court, otherwise the executor, etc., shall be accountable for the interest that might have been made thereby; where they make use of the money of minors, the guardians shall be accountable for interest and principal. Sections 13-19 incorporate the provisions of the former act³ relative to the partition 1 Rev. 776 2 A supplement, passed March 6, 1828, makes it the duty of the court to remove executors, guardians, etc., who neglect or refuse to give security, when required by the court, and to appoint new executors, guardians, etc., who shall give security. The executors, guardians, etc., removed shall immediately deliver to their successors all goods, moneys, etc., they may have held, and in case of failure to do so may be sued for the same. Pamph. Laws, 1828, p. 192; Elmer’s Digest, 368. 3 Passed March 22, 1786. Paterson, 77. [page lxxxi] of lands of coparceners, etc. Section 20 provides for sales of lands to satisfy judgements by authority of the Orphans’ Court, as under the act of February 18, 1799. Section 21 provides that the Surrogate for each county shall take depositions to wills, administrations, inventories, and administration bonds in cases of inestacy, and issue thereon letters testamentary and of administration; cases of dispute to be heard by the Orphans’ Court, subject to an appeal to the Prerogative Court. Section 26 authorizes the Ordinary or Surrogate General to cause any guardianship bond to be prosecuted in a court of record, etc. Section 27 provides “that the powers and duties formerly exercised and performed by the Ordinary, relative to the administration of guardians, for persons under the age of twenty-one years, shall hereafter be exercised and performed by the Orphans’ Court of the county in which the minor applying for a guardian may reside, or shall have real or personal estate, subject, however, to an appeal to the Prerogative Court.... Provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the Ordinary or Surrogate-General, in person, from granting probates of wills, letters of administration and letters of guardianship, from the prerogative office, in cases where a convenience will arise from doing the same.” Section 28 provides for the appointment of guardians of orphans of the age of fourteen years and upwards, on petition of to the Orphans’ Court, signed by such orphans in the presence of the surrogate; and for the appointment of guardians of orphans under fourteen years of age, upon the petition of a mother, or next of kin, etc. Section 29 provides that the surrogate shall audit and state the accounts of executors and administrators, guardians and trustees, and report the same to the Orphans’ Court. Section 31 provides that any executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, accounting, may be examined by the court under oath; the same section provides for the allowance of commissions. Section 32 provides that the sentence or decree of the Orphans’ Court on the final settlement and allowance of such accounts shall be conclusive upon all parties, except in cases of fraud or mistake. Section 38 pro- [page lxxxii] vides that executors, etc., shall produce receipts and discharges for the payment of legacies, etc., duly acknowledge, which shall be recorded by the surrogate in a book provided for the same. The other provisions of the act were almost precisely the same as in the orignal acts.1 It will be noticed that this act discloses a distinct purpose to transfer from the Ordinary or Surrogate-General to the surrogates, and from the Prerogative Court to the Orphans’ Courts, much of the jurisdiction formerly vested exclusively in the former. This is particularly apparent in Section 27, althought the jurisdiction of the Ordinary is expressly reserved by the proviso added to the section. Section 23, which authorizes the surrogates to issue letters testamentary and letters of administration, provides: “and the said probate of wills and letters of administration shall have the same validity and effect as probate of wills and letters of administration issued by the register of the Prerogative office, in the name of the Ordinary or Surrogate-General, with the seal of the office affixed.” The scope of this Revision of 1820 was carefully reviewed in the matter of Abraham Coursen’s will, by the Ordinary, in 1843,² with the conclusion that “the Ordinary has the same original and appellate powers now that he ever had. He has never been deprived of these powers by any act of the Legislature in fact; leaving out of view, the question whether an act of that kind would be constitutional.”3 It was the view of the writer in Griffith’s Law Register that the Ordinary had original jurisdiction in regard to the granting of probate of wills, etc.4 1 Revision, 1821, p. 776; Elmer’s Digest, 1838, p. 362 2 See pages xivi-xivii, ante. 3 N. J. Equity Reports (Gr. Ch.), 410 4 Griffith’s Law Register, IV., 1197. ________