356

LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1797.

heirs, or where the heirs at law, or any of them, are aliens, or
unknown, or non-residents of this state, doubts are entertained
whether in such cases creditors can have remedy at law ;

In certain
cases
actions may
be main-
tained, &c.

SEC. 2. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That in all and every case where any person hath died, or shall
die, seized of lands, tenements or hereditaments, and shall have
devised, or shall devise the same in any lawful manner whatso-
ever, not leaving any heir or heirs, or leaving any heir or heirs
at law not being citizens or residents of this state, in all and
every such case it shall and may be lawful for any creditor or
creditors of every such devisor to have and maintain his, her or
their action and actions against the devisee or devisees to whom
such lands, tenements or hereditaments, may be devised, with-
out joining the heir or heirs at law in any such action or actions ;
and such creditor or creditors shall and may have remedy by
virtue of this act against such devisee or devisees alone, and
against the lands, tenements and hereditaments, so devised, in
such like cases, and under such circumstances, as such creditor
or creditors might or could have remedy under the said statute
where the heir or heirs at law could or should be joined in
such action or actions, according to the directions of the said
statute.

CHAPTER 114.

An ACT relative to proceedings in the Court of Chancery and Land Offices,
and to the real estates of persons dying intestate.

Preamble.

*1780, ch,
46.

WHEREAS the late act to direct descents* hath rendered it in
many cases difficult, on account of the great number of heirs,
to obtain such decree against heirs us might be obtained against
the ancestor if alive,

On any bill
filed, chan-
cellor may
pass an
order, &c.

SEC. 2. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That on any bill in the court of chancery filed, or to be filed,
against the heirs of any person deceased, the chancellor, at his
discretion, may, on the appearance of such person or persons as
would have been sole heir or only heirs in case the said act had
not been made, pass an order, to be published in some conve-
nient newspaper at least three weeks successively, giving notice
of the substance and object of the bill, and appointing a day,
not less than four months subsequent to the publication, for
each of the heirs to appear and shew cause wherefore a decree
should not pass, as prayed ; and on proof to the chancellor's
satisfaction of the due publication, the suit may be carried on
between the complainant and the defendant appearing as afore-
said, and any other heirs or heir appearing in consequence of
the notice, and there may be the same decree, and it shall have
the same effect, as if the heirs of the person deceased had ap-