LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1620.

74

make return to the county court of their judgment, and the
reasons upon which the same is formed, and the real value of
the estate in current money, subject to the incumbrance if any
thereon, and if the judgment of the commissioners shall be
confirmed by the county court, then in the said court and before
the expiration of the term next succeeding that in which the
return of the commissioners shall have been confirmed, the

loss, &c
commis-
sioners to
make return
of their
judgment,
&c.

eldest son, child or person entitled, if of age, shall have election
to take the whole estate, and pay to the others their just pro-
portions of the value in money; and if the eldest child or person
entitled refuses to take the estate, and pay to the others money
for their proportions, then the next eldest child or person enti-
tied, being of age, shall have the same election, and so on to

Election
given to the
children (if
of age) suc-
cessively to
take estate
and pay the
others, &c.

the youngest child or person entitled, and if all refuse, then the
estate shall be sold by the said commissionsers, or a majority of
them, for money or upon credit, and in the manner and agreea-
bly to the terms and conditions which the court from which the
commission issued shall prescribe and direct, and no sale so to
be made, shall be valid until ratified by the said court, and the
purchase money shall be justly divided among the several per-
sons interested, according to their respective titles to the estate;
but if all the parties entitled shall be minors at the death of the
intestate, the estate shall not be sold until the eldest arrives to
age, and the profits of the estate shall be equally divided in the
mean time.

fir all refuse
then the
estate to be
sold, &c.
and the
purchase
money
divided, &c.

SEC. 10. And be it enacted, That if the commissioners, or a
majority of them, shall determine that the land or estate can be
divided, in either of the ways herein before mentioned, without
loss and injury to all the parties, then they shall cause the lands
to be surveyed and laid out by the county surveyor, or such
other person as they may think qualified, for the several parties,
in case the estate consists of lands ; and if the estate shall be
equally divided between all the parties interested, according to
their several just proportions, then the commissioners, or a
majority of them, shall allot to the several parties their respec-
tive shares of the said land; and in case the estate shall consist
of houses, the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall make

Where the
land can be
divided, the
same shall
be surveyed
and laid out
by county
surveyor,
&c.

allotment and partition between the parties; and if the estate
cannot be divided into as many parts as there are persons inte-
rested, but shall be divided into as many parts as it is susceptft
ble of, and the judgment of the commissioners shall be confirmed
by the court, the right of election to take the several parts into
which the estate may have been divided shall be according to
the rules herein before mentioned.

If estate is
divided into
as many
parts as it if
susceptible
of, the right
of election
to be as
be as before
mentioned.

SEC. 11. And be it enacted, That if all or any of the parties
of age, as the case may be, and entitled to elect to take any part
into which the estate may have been divided by the commis-

Where par-
ties entitled
to elect
shall refuse,