LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1798.

407

according to law ; and I elect to take, in lieu thereof, my dower,
or legal share of the estate of my said husband, A. B.' But by
renouncing all claim to a devise or bequest, or devises or be-
quests of personal property, made to her by the will of her
husband, she shall be entitled to one-third part of the personal
estate of her husband, which shall remain after payments of his
just debts, and claims against him, and no more.
The time for her election is elongated to six months, by 1831, ch. 315.
SEC. 3. If the will of the husband devise a part of both real
and personal estate, she shall renounce the whole, or be other-
wise barred of her right to both real and personal estate.
SEC. 4. If the will devise only a part of the real estate, or
only a part of the personal estate, the devise shall bar her of
only the real, or personal estate, as the case may require ; provi-
ded nevertheless, that if the devise of either real or personal
estate, or of both, shall be expressly in lieu of her legal share
of one or both, she shall accordingly be barred unless she
renounce as aforesaid.
SEC. 5. But if in effect, nothing shall pass by such devise,
she shall not be thereby barred, whether she shall or shall not
renounce as aforesaid, it being the intent of this act, and conso-
nant to justice, that a widow accepting, or abiding by a devise,
in lieu of her legal right, shall be considered as a purchaser with
a fair consideration.
SEC. 6. If a widow commit waste in the lands of the deceased,
she shall be liable to an action by the heir or devisee, or his or
her guardian ; and if she marry a second husband, he shall be
answerable for any waste committed by her before marriage, or
by himself.
SEC. 7. A widow's remedy for dower shall be as heretofore.

CHAPTER XIV.

SEC. 1. If any person entitled to administration, shall deliver,
or transmit to the orphans court, a declaration, in writing, that
he is willing to decline the trust, the court shall proceed as if
such person were not entitled.
SEC. 2. If an executor or administrator shall die before admi-
nistration is completed, letters de bonis non may be granted, at
the discretion of the court, with a copy of the will annexed, (if
the case require,) giving preference, however, to the person
entitled, if he or she shall actually apply for the same ; and the
form of the letters shall be as herein before directed, except
that the words, 'already not administered,' be added in their
proper place; and the authority conferred by such letters shall
be to administer all things herein described as assets, not con-
verted into money, and not distributed or delivered, or retained

Appendix,
containing
roles omit-
ted under
their proper
heads.