TESTAMENTARY LAW 3501

An. Code, 1924, sec. 349. 1912, sec. 339. 1904, sec. 332. 1888, sec. 324. 1798, ch. 101,

sub-ch. 2, sec. 2.

354. It shall be lawful for any private person in whose possession or
custody a will or codicil shall be after the death of the testator to open and
read the same in the presence of any near relations of the deceased who
may conveniently have notice thereof, and other persons, and immediately
thereafter to deliver the same to the register of wills of the county, whose
duty it shall be to keep the same safe until proceedings may be had for the
probate thereof in the said office, or until it be demanded by an executor or
other person authorized to demand it for the purpose of having it proved

according to law.

Executor is entitled to the custody of a will. Bridge v. Dillard, 104 Md. 422.
Cited but not construed in Campbell v. Porter, 162 U. S. 483.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 350. 1912, sec. 340. 1904, sec. 333. 1888, sec. 325. 1798, ch. 101,

sub-ch. 2, sec. 3.

355. If any private person, in whose possession or custody a will or
codicil shall be after the death of the testator shall wilfully neglect to
deliver the same to the register of wills of the county where the said person
resides, or where it is proper to prove the same, or to some executor named
in the will, for the space of three calendar months after the death of the
testator shall be known to him, he shall, be subject, on conviction in a court
of law, to such fine as the court shall in their discretion think proper.

Cited but not construed in Johns v. Hodges, 62 Md. 534; Campbell v. Porter, 162
U. S. 483.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 351. 1912, sec. 341. 1904, sec. 334. 1888, sec. 326. 1862, ch. 155.

356. Any will or codicil may be proved in any county or Baltimore
City wherein letters testamentary or of administration may be granted.

The orphans' court of a county has no authority to admit to probate a will except
as prescribed by this section, nor can orphans' court of one county grant letters on the
estate of a person who resides in another county. Place of residence, determined. Shultz
v. Houck, 29 Md. 27. And as to a testator's place of residence, see Harris v. Pue, 39
Md. 543.

See notes to secs. 15, 353 and 364.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 352. 1912, sec. 342. 1904, sec. 335. 1894, ch. 405, sec. 326A.

1933, ch. 357.

357. No will, testament, codicil or other testamentary paper shall be
subject to caveat or other objection to its validity after the expiration of
one year from its probate.

Limitation in this section makes no exception for relatives who do hot discover fact
of probate in that time. In re estate of Bowen (unreported case). 172 Md. 698.

This section will be construed as to wills probated before it was passed so as to give
three years from time of its passage within which to file a caveat. This section is
constitutional and valid. Vested rights. Title of act. Persons under disability. Garrison
v. Hill, 81 Md. 554; Meyer v. Henderson, 88 Md. 592; Manning v. Carruthers, 83 Md.
8. As to the title of the act of 1894, ch. 405, see also Mealey v. Hagerstown, 92 Md.
746; Kernan v. Carter, 132 Md. 593.

This section enforced. A caveat raising a new ground of objection to a will cannot
be filed (even by consent of counsel) after three years, although a caveat assigning other
objections was filed in due time and has not been disposed of. Object of this section.
Meyer v. Henderson, 88 Md. 592.

This section does not permit preliminary questions such as an alleged failure to
give notice of probate of a will under see. 360, to be raised at any time within three
years without regard to what has already taken place. Stanley v. Safe Deposit Co.,
88 Md. 406.

This section referred to in holding that a renunciation under a will came too late—see
notes to sec. 314. Kernan v. Carter, 132 Md. 589.

Caveat filed last day permitted by this section. See notes to secs. 38 and 265. Schmidt
v. Johnston, 154 Md. 128. See notes to sec. 361.

Cited but not construed in Home for Aged v. Bantz, 106 Md. 149.