WILLIAMS' CASE.—3 BLAND. 235

sales; and prayed that the amount might be directed to be paid to
her, &c.

BLAND, C., 21st August, 1829.—Ordered, that the share of so
much of the balance of the money, now in Court, as the said Eliza-
beth C. Williams is entitled to, be paid to her as prayed by the
foregoing petition, (m)

*On the 21st of December, 1830, the trustee further re-
ported, that he had, on the 17th day of December, 1830, 220
sold the woodland at private sale, in two parcels, on the following
terms, that is to say, he had sold two lots of said land to Charles
W. Johnson, containing together one hundred and one acres and
three-quarters, more or less, for the sum of twelve hundred dollars;
and two other lots containing together one hundred and one-half
acres, more or less, to John Derr, for the sum of one thousand dol-
lars, all to be paid in cash on the ratification of said sales. These
sales were finally ratified on the 26th day of February, 1831.

On the 18th of March, 1831, the auditor reported, that he had
examined the proceedings and stated an account, in which the
proceeds of the last sales, $2,200, and the rents, $15, received by
the trustee, were applied to the payment of the trustee's allow-
ance for commissions and expenses, county taxes, additional costs,
$126.82; and the widow's allowance in lieu of dower, $296.17, and
her share of the rent, $5, and had distributed the balance amongst
the deceased's children and heirs-at-law.

From the reports of the trustee, and of the auditor together, it
appears, that the whole amount of rent received for one year's
rent of the estate, was $1,530; from which there was a deduction
for repairs, presumed to be $130, leaving a net amount of $1,400
for rent; and that the net amount of the proceeds of the sales was

(m) When this order was passed, the law declared, "that every female or-
phan should be accounted of full age to receive her estate at the age of six-
teen years or day of marriage, which should first happen."'—(1715, ch. 89, s.
15; Woodward v. Chapman, 2 Bland, 73.)—And accordingly the Orphans'
Courts were only authorized to appoint a guardian to a female until the age
of sixteen.—(1798, ch. 101, sub-ch. 12, s. 1.)—But as the law now stands, she
cannot be considered as of full age for such purposes until she attains eigh-
teen years of age or marries.—(1829, ch. 216, s. 5 and 6; 1831, ch. 305, s. 5.)—
"Women," says Gibbon, in treating of the Roman law, ''were condemned to
the perpetual tutelage of parents, husbands, or guardians: a sex created to
please and obey, "was never supposed to have attained the age of reason and
experience. "—(Decl. and Fall Bom. Emp. ch. 44; 1 Blac. Com. 463.)—But by
this peculiar law of ours, founded upon what principles or policy I do not
understand, a female orphan is to have her property handed over to her, and
to be left in a condition of legal infancy, formerly from sixteen, now from
eighteen until twenty-one years of age, without a legal guardian or protector
of any sort, unless by recourse to the Court of Chancery.— (Davis v. Jacquin,
5 H. & J. 100; Bowers v. The State, 7 H. & 3.32; Fridge v. The State, 3 G. &
J. 115; Carrie's Case, 2 Bland, 501; Waring v. Waring, 2 Bland. 673.)