be infringed by will, and of late years what percentage the state itself will arbitrarily take as inheritance taxes.

Notes:

I. The disposition of the property of a man who leaves

no will is prescribed by statute.

2. The right to leave property by will extends only to such disposition as the statutes permit.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is property? How does a man get property? What does socialism teach as to property? What is communism? What are the advantages of private ownership?

2. How may a man secure a just title to property? How may a legal title to property be secured? Why is the law so much concerned about property rights? If we had no law regulating the rights of property, what would be the effect? If you had bought an automobile from a stranger and later another stranger appeared and showed that the car had been stolen from him, to whom would the car belong? Why? What are statutes of limitation? Why are they necessary?

3. Why is property classified as real and personal? Is there any present reason why the inheritance of real property and personal property should be distinguished? What things may be included with realty?

4. What is personal property? When do materials originally part of the realty become personalty? When does personal property become realty?

5. Why is money the most desired form of property? How is the function of money extended? What are instruments of credit? 6. What are negotiable instruments? Why are they so called? Why has the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law been adopted in all the states?

7. Distinguish between corporate stocks and bonds. What is the difference between interest and dividends? Which yield the greater income, stocks or bonds? Which are usually the safer investment? Why?

8. Why are household goods usually sold at a loss?

9. What are choses in action?

10. What are the laws called that prescribe what is to be done with a man's property when he dies? What simple rule as to descent of property prevails in England?

II. How long should a man be allowed to control his estate after death? Should the right to leave property to charity be restricted? Why? Should a man be allowed to disinherit his children? Should a man be allowed to will all his property away from his wife? How much should the state take as inheritance taxes?

12. What does the law in your state prescribe as to all the points in

the foregoing paragraphs?

CHAPTER II

DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION

§ 11. Intestacy

When a person draws up, in accordance with the formalities prescribed by law, a document in which he states to whom his property is to go after his death, he is said to have made his last will and testament, the word "testament" being only a legal synonym for "will." The person who makes a will is called the "testator" or, if a woman, the "testatrix."

A person: (1) who dies without having made a will, or (2) who has made only one will, which has been adjudged to be invalid, or (3) who has made a will but has revoked or destroyed it and died before a new one could be made, or (4) who has left a will, but no one to take under its provisions, is said to die intestate and is referred to as an "intestate." If a person made a will that disposed of only part of his property, he would die intestate as to the part not mentioned in the will.

In all such cases the law will dispose of his property, or in other words, the law will make a will for the person who fails to make one for himself or herself. This seems rather an easy way to avoid the making of a will, but after looking at the local statutes which provide for such distribution it may be found that the distribution made by the law is unsatisfactory and not such as the owner would consider wise or just.

§ 12. Rules of Descent and Distribution

"Descent" is the legal term for the passing of the real estate of a man who dies without devising his real property.

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"Distribution" is the legal term for the apportionment of a man's personalty when he dies without making a will.

The laws in each state that regulate both of these matters are called the "statutes of descent and distribution."

Before the personal property is distributed or the heir can inherit the land, the outstanding debts and obligations of the deceased must be settled in full. Debts and claims must be paid from the personal property if it is sufficient in amount to satisfy them. If the personal property is not sufficient to do this, the land and real property, or enough of it to pay all claims, must be sold. It is only after the debts have been paid that the rules of descent and distribution apply.

Rules of Distribution. Upon the death of an intestate, after payment of all claims his personal property is distributed according to the regulations of the statutes of distribution in the states where the decedent had personal property. The rules of distribution for all the states would be much too voluminous to give heie, but general distribution of personalty is as follows:

After payment of funeral expenses and debts, the wife or the husband receives one-third of the property outright-this is not the right of dower or of curtesy, which pertains to real property only-and the children receive the remaining twothirds divided equally among them (per capita). If any of the children are dead but have left children of their own, the share of the dead child is divided equally among his children, who as individuals inherit per capita, but as a group inherit per stirpes, or by the family. If there are no children, but a wife is left, the estate is usually divided equally between the wife and the next of kin.

As an example of what happens in some of the states to personalty where there are no children:

In New York the widow takes one-half of the surplus and $2,000.

In New Jersey the husband or the wife takes all the per

sonal property.

In Pennsylvania the surviving spouse takes $5,000 and one-half the remainder.

In California and Oklahoma the husband or the wife takes one-half, and one-half goes to the next of kin.

In those states where community property exists, the husband or the wife takes all the personal property.

Where there are children but no surviving wife or husband, the property is divided equally among the children; and if there is neither husband nor wife nor children the estate is divided among the next of kin or their representatives. In each state it would be necessary to consult the statutes, but most of the states follow the foregoing rules. In some of the states the distinction between realty and personalty has been disregarded and both pass by the same rules.

Rules of Descent. Upon the death of an intestate, his real property passes in equal shares to his heirs, subject to his wife's right of dower, which is an annual income from onethird of his real property for her life. Real estate passes to the heirs in this way without coming into control of the administrators. In event of the death of a married woman, her real estate would in like manner pass to her heirs, subject, if there were children of the marriage, to her husband's right of curtesy, which is the right to all the annual income of the wife's real estate for life. In a few states this right of dower for a wife and right of curtesy for a husband have been abolished, and the survivor takes for life the income from one-third of the real property left by the other. This passing of real property to heirs by operation of law is known as "descent.”

In the United States the general rule of descent is that all in the same degree of kinship share equally; i.e., if there were five children each would take one-fifth. This is called. sharing per capita. Where any of the heirs are dead, the