Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

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[01]/[09]/[1839]
Prickett, David (Pricket)

Originated in the House of Representatives 1
D. Prickett Clk[Clerk] H R

2
An act concerning the sale [of] real estate of deceased persons by executors and administrators in settling estates.

Sec[Section]. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That when a person living in any other State or territory, shall die, leaving real estate within this State, and the executor or administrator appointed in such State or territory shall produce to the circuit court of the county where such real estate or some part thereof is situated, a regular, executed and authentic certificate of such appointment from the judge or judges by whom such letters testamentary, or letters of administration were granted; and shall make it appear to the satisfaction of such court, that it is necessary for the payment of debts of the deceased, that all, or a part of such real estate should be sold to pay the debts of the deceased the court shall have power to direct the executor or administrator to sell the whole, or such part of such real estate, as said court shall think necessary, requiring said executor or administrator to have his letters testamentary

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or of administration granted in such State or territory to be fully recorded in this State, in the county where the land to be sold shall be, and the application and proceedings shall be conducted, in all respects in the same manner that the application and proceedings of resident executors and administrators are required to be conducted by the laws of this State, in cases of sales by real estate of deceased persons. This act to be in force from and after its passage.
Wm L D Ewing
Speaker of the House of RepresentativesW. H Davidson
Speaker of the Senate

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N^o 356

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An act concerning the sale of real estate of deceased persons by executors and administrators in settling estates.3

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03/02/[1839]
lay table H R
2^d March

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03/02/1839
McLean, James M.

Laid before the Council of Revision 2 March, 1839.J. M. M^cLean Secy[Secretary].

1Written vertically in the right margin.

2On January 4, 1839, James T. Cunningham in the House of Representatives presented the petition of Louisiana Stephenson, requesting a divorce. The House referred the bill to a select committee. In response to this petition, Cunningham of the aforesaid select committee introduced HB 117, originally titled “A Bill to Divorce and Change the Name of Louisiana Stephenson,” in the House on January 9. On January 15, the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on February 28 with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House passed the bill as amended, amending the title so as to read “A Bill concerning the Sale of Real Estate of Deceased Persons by Executors and Administrators in Settling Estates.” On March 1, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on March 2 with amendments, in which the Senate concurred. The Senate passed the bill as amended. The House concurred with the Senate amendments on the same day. The Council of Revision vetoed the bill and returned it to the House with its objections. The House tabled the bill and the objections of the Council.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 163, 191, 215, 555, 561, 591, 592, 599, 604, 605; Illinois Senate Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 465, 488, 497, 502, 508.

3On February 28, 1839, the House of Representatives amended the title from “A Bill to Divorce and Change the Name of Louisiana Stephenson,” to its final name. Sometimes the substance of bills and their titles changed dramatically during the legislative process. As for the original intent of this bill to obtain a legislative divorce for Louisiana Stephenson, although rare, legislative divorce was available in Illinois from 1818 until the Illinois Constitution of 1848, although there were no legislative divorces after 1838, when that body granted its last divorce by legislative act. After that time, all divorces in the state fell within the jurisdiction of the circuit courts.
Illinois House Journal. 1838. 11th G. A., 1st sess., 561; Ill. Const. (1848), art. III, § 32; Eugene L. Gross and William L. Gross, An Index to All the Laws of the State of Illinois (Springfield: E. L. & W. L. Gross, 1869), 13; “An Act concerning Divorces,” approved 1 June 1827, The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois (1827), 181.