1789.
Passed December
22. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
CHAP. XXXIII.
An ACT to enable the chancellor to direct a sale of the real
estate of John Mitchell, late of Sussex county, in the
Delaware
state, deceased, for the payment of his debt. |
| Preamble. |
WHEREAS it hath been represented to this general
assembly, by the
humble petition of James Bratten, John Mitchell and Cyrus Mitchell,
executors of the last will and testament of John Mitchell, late of
Sussex county, in the Delaware state, deceased, that the said John Mitchell
died
in the said state considerably indebted, and leaving real and personal
estate, as
well in the said state of Delaware as in the state of Maryland; that from
the
number of suits prosecuted against them, and the payment of debts,
the personal
estate of the said John Mitchell is almost entirely exhausted; and that
sundry just
claims and demands against the said executors yet remain to be satisfied,
and
cannot be discharged for want of a sufficiency of personal assets:
And whereas it
is also represented, that the said John Mitchell, by his said last will,
devised his
real estate, lying and being in the said counties of Somerset and Worcester,
within
this state, to a relation in the kingdom of Ireland, who, by the laws of
this
state, is incapable to hold and enjoy the same, and afterwards died seized
of the
said real estate, leaving no lawful issue, or other person, in this state
or elsewhere,
capable by law to hold the same, whereby the said real estate hath become
escheated
to this state for want of heirs of the said John Mitchell: And whereas
it is just
and reasonable that the fair and lawful debts of the said John Mitchell,
upon a
satisfactory exhibition thereof, should be paid and discharged before the
state shall
interfere to take the benefit of such escheat; but for want of power to
apply the
said real estate to the payment of the debts, the said petitioners
have prayed that
an act may be passed to direct a sale of such estate, for this purpose:
Therefore, |
Chancellor,
on application,
to appoint
trustees, &c. |
II. Be it enacted,
by the General Assembly of Maryland, That upon the
application of any three or more of the most principal creditors of the
said John
Mitchell, by petition, to the chancellor of this state, stating the nature
and evidence
of their respective debts, it shall and may be lawful for the said chancellor
to appoint three discreet and judicious persons, residing in the counties
of Somerset
and Worcester, or in either of them, as trustees to take the possession
and
charge of all the real estate, lands, tenements and hereditaments, of the
said John
Mitchell, deceased, lying and being in the respective counties aforesaid,
or elsewhere
in this state, and the same to manage, sell and dispose of, to the best
advantage,
according to the directions of the said chancellor; and the said trustees,
upon receiving a certificate of their appointment, and before they shall
proceed to
act as such, shall appear at the next, or any succeeding session of the
court to be
holden for Somerset county which shall happen thereafter, and shall then
and
there enter into bond, with such security as the justices of the said court
shall
deem sufficient, to this state, in the sum of two thousand pounds current
money,
jointly and severally, in the usual form; the condition of which bond shall
be
such, that if the said trustees shall well and faithfully, in all respects,
discharge
and perform the trust reposed in them by this act, according to the true
intention
and meaning thereof, and in pursuance of the directions of the chancellor
of this
state, without fraud or delay, then the said bond shall be void, otherwise
the
same shall remain in force and virtue; and a certificate of the execution
of such
bond shall be endorsed thereon by any two fo the said justices before whom
the
same shall be sealed and delivered, and thereupon the said bond shall
be filed with
the clerk of the county, and be by him forthwith recorded among the proceedings
of the court, and be thereafter transmitted to the register of the court
of
chancery for safe custody; and a certified copy of such bond from the records
of
Somerset county, under the hand of the clerk, and the seal of his office,
shall be
a sufficient ground of action to any person or persons who shall be injured
or aggrieved
by the said trustees in the execution of their trust. |
Who shall appoint
a day to
meet, &c. |
III. And be
it enacted, That the said trustees, after the qualification aforesaid,
shall forthwith appoint a certain day, not less than thirty days thereafter,
when
they shall meet at the town of Salisbury, in the county of Somerset
aforesaid, for |
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