Legal Term: INVENTORY

Definition: A list, schedule, or enumeration in writing, containing, article by article, the goods and chattels, rights and credits, and, in some cases, the lands and tenements, of a person or persons. In its most common acceptation, an inventory is a conservatory act, which is made to ascertain the situation of an intestate s estate, the estate of an insolvent, and the like, for the purpose of securing it to those entitled to it. 2. When the inventory is made of goods and estates assigned or conveyed in trust, it must include all the property conveyed. 3. In case of intestate estates, it is required to contain only the personal property, or that to which the administrator is entitled. The claims due to the estate ought to be separated; those which are desperate or had ought to be so returned. The articles ought to be set down separately, as already mentioned, and separately valued. 4. The inventory is to be made in the presence of at least two of the creditors of the deceased, or legatees or next of kin, and, in their default and absence, of two honest persons. The appraisers must sign it, and make oath or affirmation that the appraisement is just to the best of their knowledge. Vide, generally, 14 Vin. Ab. 465; Bac. Ab. Executors, &c., E 11; 4 Com. Dig. 14; Ayliffe s Pand. 414; Ayliffe s Parerg. 305; Com. Dig. Administration, B 7; 3 Burr. 1922; 2 AddamsRep. 319; S. C. 2 Eccles. R. 322; Lovel. on Wills; 38; 2 Bl. Com. 514; 8 Serg. & Rawle, 128; Godolph. 150, and the article Benefitof Inventory.

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