HOWARD'S CASE.—1 BLAND. 343

Eager Howard, the son of my deceased son John, and James
Howard McHenry, the son of my daughter Juliana McHeury, now
deceased, one share each to them and their heirs for ever; subject,
nevertheless, as to the two last mentioned devises, to the follow-
ing conditions, viz. that if either of my said grandchildren John
Eager Howard, or James Howard McHeury, should die before
arriving at the age of twenty-one years, then the share of such
grandchild so dying is to go and revert to such of my children and
grandchildren as may be alive at the death of such grandchild, in
equal parts to them and their heirs for ever.''

" In cases where I may have given bonds of conveyance for real
property which I may have sold or contracted to sell, it is my will
and desire, that my executors should be, and they hereby are fully
authorized to execute all necessary deeds to complete said con-
tracts.''

BLAND, C., 17th November. 1827.—It would seem, that the de-
visees of the residuum of the testator's real estate take in the man-
ner and upon the terms specified, as tenants in common. The
direction, that the Chancellor shall appoint the persons to make
the division among them, amounts to no more than saying what
the law had already said, that a partition of the estate so devised
might be obtained by a bill in Chancery. All concerned must be
brought before the Court, or have an opportunity of being heard;
from which a majority of them would be precluded by the ex parte
procedure proposed by this petition.

It may be inferred from this petition, that the parties concerned
are anxious to have the estate of the deceased finally settled, and
divided in the manner he has directed by his will. If so, a bill
embracing the whole subject, and asking a petition, is the surest,
cheapest, and most expeditious mode of proceeding that can be
adopted. The defendants may answer at once, without waiting
to be summoned; an account may be taken if called for; and a
commission may issue, in the usual form, to divide the residue of
* the real estate with as little delay as the nature of the case 368
may require. This petition is entirely irregular and unsuited
to what appears to be the object in view. Whereupon it is ordered,
that the petition be and the same is hereby dismissed with costs.

Afterwards, on the 2d of January, 1828, George Howard, Benja-
min C. Howard, William Howard, James Howard, Charles Howard,
and James Howard McHenry by his guardian and next friend
Charles Howard, filed their bill against William George Read and
Sophia his wife, and John Eager Howard, an infant, stating that
the parties were the devisees of the real estate of the late John
Eager Howard, as specified in his will. Whereupon the plaintiffs
prayed that a partition thereof might be made among them.