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Reports of Cases in the High Court of Chancery of Maryland 1846-1854
Volume 200, Volume 4, Page 462   View pdf image (33K)
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462 HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY.
Under the commissions which have been issued for the pur-
pose, a vast mass of evidence has been collected, the effect of
which has been very fully and ably argued by the counsel of
the parties, as has also been the construction which should be
put upon the will of William Spencer, which lies at the foun-
dation of the controversy.
It is insisted, upon the part of the complainants, that the
value of the estate of the testator, William Spencer, should be
ascertained at or about the year 1823, the period at which he
supposed his debts might be paid, and that they are entitled to
two twelfth parts of that value, irrespective of any debts which
may have then or may now remain unpaid. That the estimate
of the value of the estate of the testator, spoken of in his will,
was to be made without regard to his debts, be they great or
small, and that these complainants, together with the children
of Isaac Spencer, are entitled to be paid their aliquot parts of
that estimate when they should attain the age of twenty-one
years, though the debts of the estate should exceed in amount
the value of his entire estate.
The argument in support of this proposition is, that the lan-
guage of the will not only makes the sums to be paid to these
legatees a charge upon the estate, but by accepting the devise,
Isaac Spencer, the devisee, made himself personally responsible,
and that being so responsible, he must pay though he loses
money. That a devisee who takes and enjoys an estate under
a devise like this, must comply with the condition though the
value of the property is less than the charges upon it.
It is a general rule, certainly, that when lands are devised,
charged with the payment of a legacy, and the devisee accepts
of the devise, he becomes personally and absolutely liable for
the legacy, and consequently, whether the estate is adequate or
not to the payment of the legacy is immaterial. By accepting
such a devise, the legacy becomes the personal debt of the de-
visee, and. he must pay it, though the property devised to him
be of less or greater value. Glen and wife vs. Fisher,
6 Johns. Ch. Rep., 33; Birdsall vs. Hewlett, 1 Paige, 82;
The. Attorney General vs. Christ's Hospital, 3 Brown's Oh.

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Reports of Cases in the High Court of Chancery of Maryland 1846-1854
Volume 200, Volume 4, Page 462   View pdf image (33K)
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