Sixth. If the father and mother be dead, it shall pass to the next of kin to the intestate.

SEC. 4. When any person shall die intestate, seized of such estate in land as is mentioned in preceding section one, or entitled to an interest therein, and there shall be no person living entitled to inherit the same by the provisions of this chapter, the same shall pass to and be invested as an estate of inheritance in the husband or wife, relict of such intestate, and if there be no such relict, it shall escheat to the United States, and be appropriated to the use of the public schools of this District, in the same manner as is provided in Part I with regard to fines.

SEC. 5. The descendants of any intestate, when they are in the same degree of kindred, shall take equally, "per capita;" otherwise they shall take "per stirpes," according to the right of representation, and in the collateral lines, the descendants of any deceased ancestor shall take in like manner.

SEC. 6. No right to such estate or interest shall accrue to or vest in any person other than the children of the intestate and their descendants, unless such person is in being and capable in law to take as heir at the time of the intestate's death; but any child or descendant of the intestate begotten before but born after the death of the intestate, shall, in all cases, inherit as if he had been born in the lifetime of the intestate and had survived him.

SEC. 7. When any descendant of a person dying intestate as to his estate, or any part thereof, shall have received from such intestate in his lifetime, or under his will, any estate, real or personal, by way of advancement, and he or any descendant of his shall come into partition or distribution with the other heirs and distributees, such advancement shall be brought into hotchpot with the whole estate, real and personal, descended or distributable, and thereupon such party shall be entitled to his proper portion of the estate, real and personal.

SEC. 8. The maintenance or education of a descendant, or the gift of money to him without a view to a portion or settlement in life, shall not be deemed an advancement.

SEC. 9. If, after the birth of an illegitimate child, his parents shall intermarry, such child, if acknowledged by the father, shall, in virtue of the marriage and acknowledgment, be legitimated and made capable in law to inherit and transmit, as if born in wedlock.

SEC. 10. Every illegitimate child shall be considered as an heir of its mother, and shall inherit and transmit her estate, in whole or in part, as the case may be, in like manner as if he had been born in lawful wedlock.

SEC. 11. If any illegitimate child shall die intestate, without issue entitled thereto, his real estate shall descend to his mother and her heirs.

SEC. 12. The provisions of this chapter shall in nowise affect the estate of a widow as tenant in dower, or of a husband as tenant by the curtesy, nor shall the same affect any limitation of an estate by deed or will, except the limitation of an estate in fee-tail general.

TITLE III.

Title by devise and bequest.

SECTION

CHAPTER 52.

OF WILLS OF REAL AND PERSONAL ESTATE.

SECTION

17. Wills, once revoked, how revived.
18. Devises, &c.; when not to lapse by

death of devisee in lifetime of testator.
19. Devises, &c., that lapse, &c., to pass
under residuary clause in the will.
20. When property as to which the testator
has a power of appointment shall pass
by will.

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21. Legatees and devisees to contribute
22. ratably to payment of debts.
23. Witness becoming incompetent, will to
be proved, &c., as if he were dead.
24. When and how a devisee, &c., a com-
petent witness.

25. A creditor a competent witness, though
debt be charged on the estate.

26. An executor a competent witness.
27. Penalty for not delivering will to the
register.

28. Will; how opened and read.

29. Will relative to real or personal estate may be proved in the orphans' court.

SECTION

30. Authenticated copies of wills proved out of the District admitted to probate.

31. Depositions of witnesses; when and how taken.

32. Parties interested may be summoned or

notified by publication.

33. Guardians ad litem may be appointed for infants and parties insane.

34. Court may then proceed to hear application for probate.

35. Motion for probate may be made ex parte. 36. Saving in favor of certain parties.

SECTION

37. Record of what is proved at time of probate; how used.

38. Executor, or party offering will; how examined.

39. Will to be recorded and preserved in the register's office.

40. Purchasers from heirs not affected by will, unless it is recorded, &c.

41. Term will, in this chapter, to include codicil.

42. How far this chapter operates on wills now made, and hereafter to be made.

SECTION 1. Every person, except a married woman, may make a will devising real estate who, at the time of executing and acknowledging the same as hereinafter provided, is of the full age of twentyone years, of sound mind, and capable of making a valid deed or

contract.

SEC. 2. All real estate, except estates tail, which might pass by deed, or which would, in the event of the proprietor dying intestate, descend to his heirs or devolve on his other representatives, may be disposed of by will.

SEC. 3. Any right or interest acquired in real estate by a testator after the making of his will, shall pass thereby in like manner as if possessed at the time of making the will, if such shall appear by the will to have been the intention of the testator.

SEC. 4. All the personal estate of a testator remaining at his decease, and all his right thereto and interest therein, may be bequeathed and disposed of by him in his last will and testament, subject to his wife's distributive share at common law; and all such estate not disposed of by will shall be administered as an intestate's estate.

SEC. 5. No will shall be effectual to pass or in any way affect an interest in real estate, unless it be in writing, subscribed by the testator, or some other person in his presence and by his express direction; and, moreover, unless it be wholly written by the testator, the signature shall be made, or the will acknowledged by him, in the presence of two or more competent witnesses; and such witnesses shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator and of each other, but no form of attestation shall be necessary.

SEC. 6. No appointments made by will, in the exercise of any

power, shall be valid, unless the same be so executed that it would be valid for the disposition of the property to which the power applies if it belonged to the testator; and every will so executed, except the will of a married woman, shall be a valid execution of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding the instrument creating the power expressly require that a will made in execution of such power shall be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity.

SEC. 7. Only such persons as have herein before been authorized to make a devise of real estate shall be held competent to execute a bequest of personal estate.

SEC. 8. A married woman shall be competent to make a will disposing only of her separate estate, or in the exercise of a power of appointment.

SEC. 9. No will, except such nuncupative or unwritten will as is hereinafter provided for, shall be effectual to pass, or in any way dispose of, personal estate, unless the same be executed with all the formalities required in section five of this chapter in case of wills devising real estate: provided, however, that the will of any person domiciled out of this District at the time of his death shall be valid as to personal property therein, if it be executed according to the law of the State or country in which he was so domiciled.

SEC. 10. No nuncupative will shall be allowed by law, except those made by a soldier in actual military service, or a mariner at sea, who may make, as heretofore, nuncupative wills, provided he does not dispose therein of personal property exceeding in value the sum of two hundred dollars.

SEC. 11. No donatio mortis causa shall be valid or of any effect when the property delivered exceeds in value the sum of two hundred dollars.

SEC. 12. No will, or any clause therein, shall be revoked, except in the cases hereinafter mentioned, unless by some writing declaring the same, executed as required in the case of a will, or the same with intent to revoke be burnt, cancelled, torn, or obliterated by the testator, or by some person in his presence and by his direction.

SEC. 13. Every will made by a man or woman shall be revoked by his or her subsequent marriage, except a will made in exercise of a power of appointment, when the estate thereby appointed would not,

in default of such appointment, pass to his or her personal representative or next of kin.

SEC. 14. If any person die leaving a child, or his wife enciente of a child which shall be born alive, and leaving a will made when such person had no child living, wherein any child he might have is not provided for or mentioned, such will, except so far as it provides for the payment of the debts of the testator, shall be construed as if the devises and bequests therein had been limited to take effect in the event that the child shall die under the age of twenty-one years, unmarried and without issue.

SEC. 15. If a will be made when a testator has a child living, and a child be born afterwards, such after-born child, or any descendants of his, if not provided for by any settlement, and neither provided for nor expressly excluded by the will, but only pretermitted, shall succeed to such portion of the testator's estate as he would have been entitled to had the testator died intestate, towards raising which portion the devisees and legatees shall, out of what is devised and bequeathed to them, contribute ratably, either in kind or in money, as the circuit court in the particular case, may deem most proper. If, however, any such after-born child die under the age of twentyone years, unmarried and withont issue, his portion of the estate, or so much thereof as may remain unexpended in his support and education, shall revert to the person to whom it was given by the will.

SEC. 16. No conveyance or other act subsequent to the execution of a will shall, unless it be an act by which the will is revoked, as before provided, prevent its operation with respect to such interest in the estate comprised in the will as the testator may have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death.

SEC. 17. No will, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil, executed in manner herein before required, and then only to the extent to which an intention to revive the same is shown in such will or codicil.

SEC. 18. If a devisee or legatee die before the testator, leaving issue who survive the testator, such issue shall take the estate devised or bequeathed, as the devisee or legatee would have done if he had survived the testator, unless a different disposition be made or required by the will.