Acts. 569

Assigns for ever should have as good an Estate in fee Simple in four
hundred Acres part of the Lands of their said Father James Philips
as if his said Will had been Subscribed Proved and Recorded as
aforesaid And that the said four hun^d Acres were thereby expressly
Devised to be equally Divided between the said Mary and Martha
and their Heirs and Assigns for ever And it was also further
Enacted by the Act aforesaid that the said James Philips the Son
Anthony Philips Mary Smithers and Martha Paca their Exers
Adm^rs or other Legal representatives should be and were by that Act
Intituled to the same shares and Distributions of the personal Estate
of the said James Philips the Elder as if his said Will had been duely
proved and Recorded any Law usage or Custom to the contrary
notwithstanding Saving to his most Sacred Majesty his Heirs and
Successors and to the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary and
his Heirs and Successors and to all Bodies Politick and Corporate
and all others not mentioned in that Act their Severall and respective
Rights And Whereas it is represented to this Present Session of As-
sembly That before the passing the said Act the said Anthony Philips
being possessed of Several Tracts of Land belonging to the said James
Philips the Elder but which of Right would have belonged to the said
James Philips the son after the Death of the said Anthony Philips
as Heir at Law to the said James Philips the Elder Devised the same
to his Sisters Martha Paca and Mary Smithers in the said Act men-
tioned and Died and That after the passing the said Act the said Mary
Smithers and Martha Paca claimed the said Lands so Devised by
Anthony Philips as also the Lands given to them by the said Act as
their own and had committed great Waste and Destruction thereon
And Whereas it appears to this Assembly that a Citation issued out
of the Court of the Commissary General of this Province against the
said Martha Paca and Mary Smithers to answer such Questions as
should be asked them concerning the said Will of James Philips
the Elder upon the return of which Citation the said Mary Smithers
Appeared and Deposed That she then knew of the said Will that the
same was in her Possession And which She then Produced to the
Commissary Generall And that she found the same with part of the
Preamble Torn off amongst some old Papers belonging to Aquilla
Paca who was the Husband of the said Martha (at the Instance and
for the Benefitt of whom and the said Mary Smithers the said Act
wastObtained) But that she the said Mary Smithers knew not how
the said Will came there And Whereas it also Appears to this Present
Assembly that the said Will was proved the fourth Day of June
Sixteen hundred and eighty nine before Henry Johnson then Specially
Appointed for that purpose And which said Will was then ordered
by the Commissary Generall to be Recorded and now Remains on
Record by which the Inheritance of some of the aforementioned
Lands Appears to Descend in a manner different from that Directed

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