Opinion of the Court.

argument drawn from the authority of the Attorney General, as chief of the Department of Justice exercising the power of superintendence and direction over the district attorneys as subordinate officers belonging to that department. This authority is purely of an executive character, analogous to that of all the other chiefs of their respective departments. The superintendence and direction which he exercises, however comprehensive and minute it may be, over the duties of those officers which are purely administrative and executive, cannot by any stretch of construction be made to extend over the proceedings, the judgments, or the orders of the courts under whose jurisdiction the district attorneys, under the law, are required to perform their duties.

With regard to the supervisory power of the accounting officers of the Treasury Department in this connection, it is to be observed that, according to the record in the present case, those officers simply "followed the action of the Attorney General," which, as we have already seen, was unauthorized by law. The counsel for the United States, while insisting that the discretion in question is vested in the Attorney General, concedes in his brief that it was not meant to be given to the accounting officers. In this connection he says:

"The accounting officers of the Treasury could never have been given this discretion in fixing an additional allowance, for, from the nature of the case, they know nothing about the difficulty and importance of the work done by a district attorney, and because fixing compensation for services is foreign to their ordinary business. The discretion is of a kind they never exercise, and, moreover, when exercised by another, they cannot alter or amend what is done."

Further discussion of this point is not necessary. The powers and duties of the accounting officers are well described by the court below in the following language, with which we agree:

"Those powers and duties are well understood. The auditor merely examines and audits accounts, neither allowing nor disallowing the same, certifies balances and transmits the same to the comptroller for his decision thereon. The comptroller decides whether or not the items are authorized by statute,

Statement of the Case.

and are legally chargeable. He has no power to review, revise and alter items expressly allowed by statute, nor items of expenditures or allowances made upon the judgment and discretion of other officers charged with the duty of expending the money or of making the allowances. His duty extends no further than to see that the officers charged with that duty have authorized the expenditures or have made the allowances." 21 C. Cl., 37, 38.

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Court of Claims is

Affirmed.

COULAM v. DOULL.

APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE TERRITORY OF UTAH.

No. 124. Submitted November 18, 1889. - Decided January 27, 1890.

Under the statute of Utah, enacting that when a testator omits to provide in his will for any of his children or the issue of any deceased child, such child or issue of a child shall have the same share in the estate it would have had had the testator died intestate, "unless it shall appear that such omission was intentional," the intention of the testator is not necessarily to be gathered from the will alone, but extrinsic evidence is admissible to prove it.

A statute of Massachusetts, touching wills in which the testator fails to make provision for a child or children or issue of a deceased child in being when the will was made, was substantially followed by the legislature of California; and, as enacted in California, was followed in Utah. In Massachusetts it received a construction by the Supreme Judicial Court of the State which the Supreme Court of California had, before the adoption of the statute in Utah, declined to follow. In a case arising under the statute of Utah; Held, that the court was at liberty to adopt the construction which was in accordance with its own judgment, and that it was not obliged to follow the construction given to it by the Supreme Court of California.

JOHN COULAM of Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and Territory of Utah, died at that place on the 20th day of May, A.D. 1877, leaving him surviving, his widow, now Ann Doull, (she having since his death intermarried with one George Doull,) and John Coulam, George Coulam, Henry Coulam, Fanny Baker and Sarah J. Heiner, his children and

Statement of the Case.

only heirs-at-law. At the time of his death, the said John Coulam was seized in fee simple, and in possession, of the following described real property, to wit: "All of lot No. six (6), in block fifty-nine (59), in plot 'B,' Salt Lake City survey, in the city and county of Salt Lake and Territory aforesaid, with the tenements and appurtenances thereunto belonging." He left a last will and testament, which was duly admitted to probate, and was as follows:

"I, John Coulam, being of sound mind and memory, do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following: I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Ann Coulam, all my personal property and real estate, to wit, the sum of one thousand and twenty-five ($1025) dollars, held in trust by Wells, Fargo & Co., and now due me from the Hon. William A. Hamill by note now in my possession; and I also give and bequeath unto my said beloved wife Ann my freehold estate known and recorded as lot six (6), block fifty-nine (59), plot 'B,' Salt Lake City survey, with all the messuages, tenements and appurtenances thereunto belonging; and all the rest, residue and remainder, and all the debts accruing to me, of my personal estate, goods and chattels of what kind and nature soever I give and bequeath the same to my said beloved wife, and I hereby revoke all former wills by me made."

Upon the 2d of November, 1885, the children of the testator and one Zera Snow brought an action in the District Court of the Third Judicial District of the Territory to recover an undivided interest in the real estate above described, the children claiming, as heirs-at-law, three-quarters of the estate, real and personal, of Coulam, deceased, and Zera Snow, as owner by conveyance from said heirs-at-law made since the death of John Coulam, an undivided one-fourth part of the real estate in question, the plaintiffs together averring title to an undivided three-quarters thereof.

The complaint set up the will, and alleged "that in or by said will said John Coulam, testator, omitted to provide for any of his said children, the said plaintiffs: that it does not appear that said omission was intentional." The defendant answered,

Statement of the Case.

and denied "that the omission of said decedent testator to provide in his said will for his said children was not intentional on the part of said testator, and, on the contrary, alleges that said omission was intentional on the part of said testator and so appears." A jury having been expressly waived, the cause was heard by the court.

Upon the trial evidence was offered on behalf of the defendant, and admitted over the objection of the plaintiffs, tending to show that before and after and at the time of the execution and publication of the will, and up to the time of his death, the testator was in full possession of his faculties, and of sound and perfect memory; that he had no other property when the will was executed or at his death, than that mentioned in the will; that he had previously personally prepared the drafts of two other wills, which he called for and which were before him when the will in question was drawn, both of those prior wills being in his own handwriting and signed by him, and omitting to provide for his children; that the instrument in question was drawn by a Mr. Campbell, to whom the testator gave instructions as to what it should contain; that the testator's wife, the defendant in this action, had lived with him for nearly thirty years, had raised his children, the youngest from babyhood, and had worked hard and helped to make the money with which the houses upon the lot were built; that the children had all attained maturity, were married, and had homes of their own, (chiefly bestowed on them by the testator and his wife,) and were in comfortable circumstances; and that his daughters and sons were in daily attendance upon him during his last illness, and when the will was drawn up and executed. None of the evidence was offered for the purpose of showing advancements.

The court thereupon rendered its decision in writing, and made and filed the following finding of fact:

"That the omission and failure of John Coulam, senior, the testator, to provide for any of his children, the said plaintiffs, in his last will and testament, was intentional on his part."

And the conclusion of law: "That the defendant is entitled to recover herein."

Argument for Appellants.

Judgment was accordingly entered for the defendant, and the cause was brought here on appeal.

Mr. William C. Hall and Mr. John A. Marshall for appel lants.

The appellants and the appellee claim under a common source of title, viz.: one John Coulam, who died testate in 1877. His will is set out in the complaint, and purports to give his entire estate to his wife, the appellee, entirely ignoring the appellants, his children.

(694) Section 10, Compiled Laws of Utah of 1876, p. 272, is as follows: "When any testator shall omit to provide in his or her will for any of his or her children, or for the issue of any deceased child, unless it shall appear that such omission was intentional, such child, or the issue of such child, shall have the same share in the estate of the testator as if he or she had died intestate, to be assigned as provided in the preceding section."

(703) Sec. 19, Compiled Laws of 1876, p. 273, provides that if the decedent leave a husband or a wife and more than one child, the estate of the decedent goes one-fourth to the surviving husband or wife for life, and the remainder with the other three-fourths to the children.

Two issues are raised by the pleadings: but the second, having been abandoned below, there remains in this court for discussion only the question: Was the omission of the testator to provide in his will for his children intentional? The question of law raised by the assignment of errors relates to the admission of parol testimony, tending to prove that the testator intentionally omitted to provide for his children: a part of such testimony being the contents of two drafts of former wills, not published or witnessed.

On the part of the appellants it is contended that the omission of the testator to provide in his will for his children, by virtue of the statute, annexes to the will the condition that the will shall be void, quoad the children, unless a contrary intention appears by intrinsic evidence, and that the operation