SAMUEL SPRIGG, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

1820.

tions, then the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall have
power to divide the estate into as many parts as it is susceptible of,
without loss and injury, to all the parties entitled, and to ascertain
the value of each part of such estate in current money, subject to
any incumbrance thereon.

CHAP. 191.

9. And be it enacted, That if the said commissioners, or a ma-
jority of them, shall determine that the estate cannot he divided
without loss and injury to all the parties, then they shall make
return to the county court of their judgment, and the reasons
upon which the same is formed, and the real value of the estate
in current money, subject to the incumbrance if any thereon, and
if the judgment of the commissioners shall be confirmed by the
county court, then in the said court and before the expiration of
the term next succeeding that in which the return of the commis-

If estate cannot

be divided without
loss, &c to commissi-
oners to make re-
turn of their judg-
ment, &c.

sioners shall have been confirmed, the eldest son, child or person
entitled, if of age, shall have election to take the whole estate,
and pay to the others their just proportions of the value in money;
and if the eldest child or person entitled refuses to take the es-
tate, and pay to the others money for their proportions, then the
next eldest child or person entitled, being of age, shall have the

Election given to
the children (if of
age) successively
to take estate and
pay the others,
&c.

same election, and so on to the youngest child or person entitled,
and if all refuse, then the estate shall be sold by the said com-
missioners, or a majority of them, for money or upon credit, and
in the manner and agreeably to the terms and conditions which
the court from which the commission issued shall prescribe and
direct, and no sale so to be made, shall be valid until ratified by the
said court, and the purchase, money shall be justly divided among
the several persons interested, according to their respective titles
to the estate; but if all the parties entitled shall be minors at the
death of the intestate, the estate shall not be sold until the eldest
arrives to age, and the profits of the estate shall be equally divi-
ded in the mean time.

If all refuse, then
the estate to be
sold, &c and the
purchase money
divided, &c.

10. And be it enacted, That if the commissioners, or a majority
of them, shall determine that the land or estate can be divided, in
either of the ways herein before mentioned, without loss and in-
jury to all the parties, then they shall cause the lands to be sur-
veyed and laid out by the county surveyor, or such other person
as they may think qualified, for the several parties, in case the
estate consists of lands; and if the estate shall be equally divided
between all the parties interested, according to their several just
proportions, then the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall
allot to the several parties their respective shares of the said
land; and in case the estate shall consist of houses, the commis-
sioners, or a majority of them, shall make allotment and par-
tition between the parlies; and if the estate cannot be divided into

Where the land
can be divided,
the same shall be
surveyed and laid
out by county
surveyor, &c.

as many parts as there are persons interested, but shall be divid-
ed into as many parts as it is susceptible of, and the judgment of
the commissioners shall be confirmed by the court, the right of
election to take the several parts into which the estate may have
been divided shall be according to the rules herein before men-
tioned.

If estate is divid-
ed into as many
parts as it is sus-
ceptible of, the
right of election
to be as before

11. And be it enacted, That if all or any of the parties of age,
as the case may be, and entitled to elect to take any part into
which the estate may have been divided by the commissioners, at
the valuation thereof, shall refuse to take the same at such valua-

mentioned.

Where parties en-

titled to elect shall
refuse, estate not
taken to be sold,
&c.