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CHAPTER LVIII.

WASTE.

Sec. 1622. JOINT TENANT OR TENANT IN COMMON AGAINST COTENANT.Any joint tenant or tenant in common may maintain an action for waste committed by his cotenant, or in a suit for a partition, or a sale for purpose of partition, may have said waste charged against the share of the cotenant committing the same.

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CHAPTER LIX.

WILLS.

Sec. 1623. WHAT MAY BE DEVISED.-All lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and personal estate which might pass by deed or gift, or which would, in case of the proprietor's dying intestate, descend to or devolve on his or her heirs or other representatives, shall be subject to be disposed of, transferred, and passed by his or her last will, testament, or codicil, under the following restrictions:

[Sec. 1624. PERPETUITIES.-No will, testament, or codicil shall be effectual to create any interest in perpetuity, or make any limitation, or appoint any uses, except as permitted by this code.]

Sec. 1625. WHO CAPABLE OF MAKING WILL.-No will, testament, or codicil shall be good and effectual for any purpose whatever unless the person making the same be, if a male, of the full age of twenty-one years, and if a female, of the full age of eighteen years, and be at the time of executing or acknowledging it, as hereinafter directed, of sound and disposing mind and capable of executing a valid deed or contract.

Sec. 1626. FORM OF WILL AND REVOCATION.-All wills and testaments shall be in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his express directions, and shall be attested and subscribed in the presence of the said testator by at least two credible witnesses, or else they shall be utterly void and of no effect; and, moreover, no devise or bequest, or any clause thereof, shall be revocable otherwise than by some other will or codicil in writing or other writing declaring the same, or by burning, canceling, tearing, or obliterating the same by the testator himself or in his presence and by his direction and consent; but all devises and bequests shall remain and continue in force until the same be burned, canceled, torn, or obliterated by the testator or by his direction in the manner aforesaid, or unless the same be altered or revoked by some other will, testament, or codicil in writing, or other writing of the testator signed in the presence of at least two witnesses attesting the same, any former law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sec. 1627. REVIVAL OF WILL AFTER REVOCATION.-No will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked shall, after being revoked, be revived otherwise than by the reexecution thereof, or by a codicil executed in the manner hereinbefore required, and then only to the extent to which an intention to revive is shown.

Sec. 1628. AFTER-ACQUIRED REAL ESTATE. Any will executed after January seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and two, devising real estate, from which it shall appear that it was the intention of the testator to devise property acquired after the execution of the will, shall

be deemed, taken, and held to operate as a valid devise of all such property; and any will hereafter executed which shall by words of general import devise all the estate or all the real estate of the testator shall be deemed, taken, and held to operate as a valid devise of any real estate acquired by said testator after the execution of such will, unless it shall appear therefrom that it was not the intention of the testator to devise such after-acquired property. — Act of June 30, 1902.

[Sec. 1628. AFTER-ACQUIRED REAL ESTATE. Any will hereafter executed which shall, by words of general import, devise all the estate or all the real estate of the testator shall be deemed, taken, and held to operate as a valid devise of any real estate acquired by said testator after the execution of such will, unless it shall appear therefrom that it was not the intention of the testator to devise such afteracquired property.]

Sec. 1629. POWERS.-No appointment made by will in the exercise of a power shall be valid unless the same be so executed that it would be valid for the disposition of the property to which the power applies if it belonged to the testator.

Sec. 1630. SATISFACTION OF LEGACY.-A provision for or advancement to any person shall be deemed a satisfaction, in whole or in part of a devise or bequest to such person contained in a previous will if it would be so deemed in case the devisee or legatee were the child of the testator; and, whether he be a child or not, it shall be so deemed in all cases in which it shall appear from parol or other evidence to be so intended.

Sec. 1631. LAPSED OR VOID DEVISES.-If a devisee or legatee die before the testator, leaving issue who survive the testator, such issue shall take the estate devised or bequeathed as the devisee or legatee would have done if he had survived the testator, unless a different disposition be made or required by the will. Unless a contrary intention appear by the will, such property as shall be comprised in any devise or bequest in such will which shall fail or be void or otherwise incapable of taking effect shall be deemed included in the residuary devise or bequest, if any, contained in such will.

Sec. 1632. LEASEHOLDS.-A devise of the land of a testator, or of his land in any place, or in the occupation of a person named or otherwise described in a general manner, shall be construed to include his leasehold estates or any of them to which such descriptions shall extend, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention shall appear by

the will.

Sec. 1633. GENERAL DEVISE OF ALL PROPERTY.-Every devise and bequest purporting to be of all real or personal property, or both, belonging to the testator shall be construed to include also all property of either or both kinds, respectively, over which he has a general power of appointment, unless the contrary intention shall appear inthe will or codicil containing such devise or bequest.-Act of June 30,

1902.

[Sec. 1633. GENERAL DEVISE OF ALL PROPERTY.-Every devise and bequest purporting to be of all real or personal property, or both, belonging to the testator shall be construed to include also all property of either or both kinds, respectively, over which he has a general power of appointment, and the legal title of all such property which he holds in trust, unless the contrary intention shall appear in the will or codicil containing such devise or bequest.]

Sec. 1634. NUNCUPATIVE WILLS.-No nuncupative will hereafter made shall be valid in the District; but any soldier being in actual

military service, or mariner being at sea, may dispose of his movables, wages, and personal estate by word of mouth: Provided, That such disposition shall be proved by at least two witnesses who were present at the making thereof and were requested by the testator to bear witness that such was his last will, nor unless such will were made in the time of the last sickness of the deceased, and the substance thereof reduced to writing within ten days after the making thereof.

Sec. 1635. BEQUESTS FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES.-No devise or bequest of lands, or goods, or chattels to any minister, public teacher, or preacher of the gospel, as such, or to any religious sect, order, or denomination, or to or for the support, use, or benefit of or in trust for any minister, public teacher, or preacher of the gospel, as such, or any religious sect, order, or denomination, shall be valid unless the same shall be made at least one calendar month before the death of the testator.

Sec. 1635a. It shall be lawful for any person in whose possession or custody a will or codicil shall be after the death of the testator or testatrix, to open and read the same in the presence of any near relatives of the deceased, who may conveniently have notice thereof, and of other persons, and immediately thereafter to deliver such will or codicil to the supreme court of the District of Columbia, holding a special term as a probate court, or to the register of wills, until due proceedings may be had for proving the same, 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. -Act of June 30, 1902.

CHAPTER LX.

REPEAL PROVISIONS.

Sec. 1636. All acts and parts of acts of the general assembly of the State of Maryland general and permanent in their nature, all like acts and parts of acts of the legislative assembly of the District of Columbia, and all like acts and parts of acts of Congress applying solely to the District of Columbia in force in said District on the day of the passage of this act are hereby repealed, except:

First. Acts and parts of acts relating to the rights, powers, duties, or obligations of the United States.

Second. Acts and parts of acts relating to the Court of Claims.

Third. Acts and parts of acts relating to the organization of the District government, or to its obligations, or the powers or duties of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, or their subordinates or employees, or to police regulations, and generally all acts and parts of acts relating to municipal affairs only, including those regulating the charges of public-service corporations.

Fourth. Acts and parts of acts relating to the militia.

Fifth. All penal statutes authorizing punishment by fine only or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both.

Sixth. Acts and parts of acts of Congress relating solely to the Departments of the General Government in the District of Columbia, or any of them.

Seventh. Acts or parts of acts authorizing, defining, and prescribing the organization, powers, duties, fees, and emoluments of the register of wills of the District of Columbia and his office.

Eighth. An act to regulate the practice of pharmacy in the District of Columbia, approved June fifteenth, eighteen hundred and seventyeight; an act for the regulation of the practice of dentistry in the District of Columbia, and for the protection of the people from empiricism in relation thereto, approved June sixth, eighteen hundred and ninetytwo; an act regulating the construction of buildings along alley ways in the District of Columbia, approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-two; an act for the promotion of anatomical science, and to prevent the desecration of graves in the District of Columbia, approved February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five; an act to provide for the incorporation and regulation of medical and dental colleges in the District of Columbia, approved May fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; an act relating to the testimony of physicians in the courts of the District of Columbia, received by the President May thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; an act to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery, to license physicians and surgeons, and to punish persons violating the provisions thereof

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