1 FEBRUARY 1873, Page 3

We rarely open a paper now without reading of some

decision -or legal opinion tending to make an executor's work impossible. The Times of Wednesday gives the latest, in the shape of an -opinion from Sir Roundell Palmer, now Lord Chancellor, that an executor administering an estate which includes shares in an unlimited undertaking is as responsible as if they were his own. If the undertaking fails, he is liable in his whole fortune ; and if he sells, the shares remain liable afterwards for three years. This rule is equally applicable, of course, to part-paid shares, and the only protection seems to be to retain the whole of the -testator's other funds untouched and undivided for three years after selling the unlimited shares, in order to cover any loss which might accrue from them. Indeed there is a doubt raised whether the liability does not continue much longer, that is, for six years, the full time allowed by the Statute of Limitations. Under these circumstances, the only person justified in becoming an executor is a sole beneficiary, who may reasonably undertake a risk which is to his own advantage.