276                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                     [CH. 257

re-enact, with amendments, Sections 1, 4, 7 and 8 of Article 79 of
the said Code, title "Releases and Receipts;" to repeal and re-
enact, with amendments, Sections 59, 64, 65, 159, 164, 189 and 211
of Article 93 of the said Code (1957 Edition and 1964 Supple-
ment), title "Testamentary Law," subtitles, respectively, "Admin-
istration By An Executor," "Distribution," and "Guardian and
Ward;" to repeal or amend various sections of law in order to
change the age of a female minor in regard to conveyances, guard-
ianship, releases and receipts, giving bond, acting as executor and
other related matters, thereby raising to 21 years the legal age at
which a female minor reaches majority, establishing procedures in
the event that a person under 21 years of age is named as an
executor, and to relate generally to female minors in the State.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 2 of Article 21 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1957 Edition), title "Conveyancing," subtitle "Conveyances in Gen-
eral," be and it is hereby repealed; and that Section 10 of Article
79 of said Code (1964 Supplement), title "Releases and Receipts,"
be and it is hereby repealed; and that Sections 66 and 169 of Ar-
ticle 93 of the said Code (1957 Edition), title "Testamentary Law,"
subtitles, respectively, "Administration By An Executor" and "Guard-
ian and Ward" be and they are hereby repealed.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That Section 1 of Article 21
of the said Code, title "Conveyancing," subtitle "Conveyances in
General," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amend-
ments; and that Sections 1, 4, 7, and 8 of Article 79 of the said
Code, title "Releases and Receipts," be and they are hereby repealed
and re-enacted, with amendments; and that Sections 59, 64, 65, 159,
164, 189 and 211 of Article 93 of the said Code (1957 Edition and
1964 Supplement), title "Testamentary Law," subtitles, respectively,
"Administration By An Executor," "Distribution," and "Guardian
and Ward," be and they are hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments; and all to read as follows:

Article 21
1.

No estate of inheritance or freehold, or any declaration or limita-
tion of use, or any estate above seven years, shall pass or take effect
unless the deed conveying the same shall be executed, acknowledged
and recorded as herein provided; except that this section shall not
apply to any lease or sublease for an initial term of not more than
seven years which contains any provision for renewal for one or
more succeeding stated terms of not more than seven years each,
if under such provision for renewal the right to effect or prevent
each such renewal term shall be optional with either the landlord
or the tenant; and provided, further, that whenever a lease or sub-
lease to which this section shall apply has been executed, but has
not been acknowledged or recorded or neither acknowledged nor
recorded, as herein provided, such lease or sublease shall, notwith-
standing the provisions of this section, be valid and binding, and of
full force and effect both at law and in equity, between the original
parties to such lease. All such deeds shall be acknowledged before
some one of the officers named in §§ 2, 3 and 4 of Article 18 £, and
any unmarried woman between the age of eighteen years and twenty-