592 TESTAMENTARY LAW. [ART. 93

judges so designated and commissioned as the chief judge of his
respective court, are hereby ratified and confirmed to all intents
and purposes as if this section had been in full force when such
designations were made and commissions issued, and full power
and authority are hereby vested in- each of said judges so desig-
nated and commissioned as chief judge to act as such chief judge,
and all writs and other process tested in the names of said chief
judges respectively are hereby declared valid to all intents and
purposes, as if this section had been in force when the same were
issued.

1896, ch 246.

230. The court shall have full power to take probate of wills,
grant letters testamentary and of administration, direct the
conduct and settling the accounts of executors and administra-
tors, superintend the distribution of the estates of intestates,
secure the rights of orphans and legatees, and to administer jus-
tice in all matters relative to the affaire of deceased persons; and
also of persons who by their uninterrupted absence, unheard of
for above seven years, are supposed to be dead; provided, that
when any will or codicil shall be presented for probate, or appli-
cation shall be made for letters testamentary, or of administra-
tion upon the estate of a person so absent and unheard of for
above seven years, the person presenting such will or codicil, or
making application for letters, as aforesaid, shall file a written
petition, under oath, setting forth the time when and place
where absentee was last heard of by his family or friends; that
diligent inquiry has been made among the family, relatives and
friends of such absentee; and that advertisement and inquiry
by letters or otherwise have been made, at the most likely place
of his last residence, and that no information, by any of these
means, has been obtained of such absentee since the date set
forth in the petition, which must be above seven years prior
to the date of the petition, and that the applicant verily
believes such absentee to be dead, whereupon the court shall
order notice, by publication, to> be given in one or more news-
papers, stating that a will or codicil purporting to be the will or
codicil of such absentee had been presented for probate, or
-that application had been made for letters testamentary or of
administration upon the estate of such absentee, as the case may