THOMAS VS. WOOD. 301

estate, she should be recompensed out of the residue thereof,
so far as to place her in the same situation as if she had re-
nounced the will. When it is said that the widow, standing by
the will of her husband, is to be considered as a purchaser with
a fair consideration, it cannot be meant that she is so to be re-
garded, whatever may be the extent of the devise to her. Be-
cause, if that were so, the rights of the creditors of the husband
would be entirely at his mercy. He might defeat them by de-
vising his whole real estate to his wife. But the sound and
just rule must be, that she is to be considered as a purchaser of
the devise to the value of her share or legal right; and such is
the view of the Chief Justice in Coomes vs. Clements, and the
decision of the late Chancellor in Margaret HaIVs case, 1
Bland, 203.

[The remaining question was, whether the pecuniary lega-
cies were a charge upon the manumitted property, in case the
other personal property should prove insufficient to pay both
debts and legacies ? And, as to this, the Chancellor said :]

It is stated, and the statement seems to be supported by the
accounts of the executor passed in the Orphans Court, that the
personal estate, independently of the slaves, is quite sufficient
to pay the debts, and I can, therefore, see no reason why they
should not receive the benefit intended to be conferred upon
them by the will. The Court of Appeals in the case of Jlllein
vs. Sharp, 7 G. & J., 96, decided that the act of 1796, ch. 67,
charged the whole of the manumittor's property with the pay-
ment of his debts in favor of his manumitted slaves, and that in
a judicial proceeding to determine the invalidity of a deed of
manumission, as being in prejudice of creditors, the negro man-
umitted is entitled to the assistance of the heir at law, or the
person holding the real estate, in taking an account of the
amount thereof, before the insolvency of the deceased manu-
mittor can be legally ascertained. But, in this case, the real
estate is devised to be sold, and after the payment of debts the
residue of the proceeds of sale is directed to be distributed
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