Rankin

The parties differ as to the complexion of this action. Plaintiff asserts it to be “ a suit in equity by the administrator (with the will annexed) of the estate of John Levinson, deceased, against his surviving copartners for an accounting and settlement of the affairs of the, partnership” ; while defendants claim that it is “ an action to set aside on the ground of actual fraud a *604 partnership settlement made by the executor of a deceased partner with the surviving partners, to have the papers executed in the matter of the settlement adjudged to be void and to be delivered up for cancellation, and for an accounting and a receiver.” Consequences of some moment in the case are supposed to follow according as one or the other of these views of the nature of the action may be adopted. But we think both are right; the complaint resembles somewhat a bill in equity with a double aspect; its principal object is to obtain an accounting of the affairs of the late firm of Newman & Levinson, a partnership, of which the defendants, William J. and Benjamin Newman, and said John Levinson, now deceased, were the members, and a distribution of its assets; and to this end it proceeds on the…