HAMMOND v. HAMMOND. 313

$ 10,000; and the property devised to .Philip H. Mewburn, shall be
estimated to be worth $10,000. It is also agreed, that no advan-
tage shall be taken of any alleged defect in the bill, in not charging,
that Charles and Harriet Hammond, are entitled to have their pecu-
niary legacies raised by contribution.'

22d December, 1829.—BLAND, Chancellor.—This case standing
ready for hearing, and the solicitors of the parties having been fully
heard, the proceedings were read and considered.

It has been urged, that the sums of money given to Charles and
Harriet are merely pecuniary legacies, payable only out of the sur-
plus after debts and specific legacies. It is alleged in the bill and
admitted, that the personal estate of the testator is inadequate to
pay his debts; hence it follows, that those sums of money given
to Charles and Harriet, cannot be paid, unless, like the devises and
bequests of the original will, they are to be considered as specific
legacies, only chargeable with a proportional contribution for the
payment of the debts, which the funds appropriated for that pur-
pose by the testator, was insufficient to pay.

In questions of this kind, it is declared by all the authorities,
that the intention of the testator is always to prevail, unless it con-
travenes some established rule of law. It is evident, from the
general character of the testamentary instrument under considera-
tion, that the late Philip Hammond, by his will, had designed to
dispose of his whole estate, of every description, in a very especial
manner. His wife, each one of his children, and his grandson,
are named and provided for, by a donation of what he manifestly
had estimated as a due proportion of his property. And each share
is given, in a manner, so carefully guarded, as clearly to shew,
that the whole subject had been pondered over and well considered.
Whether each one of the dividends, so made, was, in fact, of equal
value is of no importance, as regards the present question. After
the testator had thus established the proportions, in which the first
and chosen objects of his bounty should take, he then gives to five
of his slaves their freedom, with small pieces of property for their
support during their lives; and then, in conclusion, he provides
for his creditors: but, in doing so, he cautiously guards against
disturbing the equilibrium he had established among his devisees,
by expressly declaring, that in case the fund, so set apart for his
creditors, should not be sufficient, 'that the property devised to my
sons and daughters, and to my grandson, shall contribute in equal
proportion, to the discharge of my debts.'