When gift or grant made

as advancement.

be required to refund any part of such advancement; and if the amount so received is less than his share, he is entitled to so much more as will give him his full share of the estate of the decedent.

SEC. 546. All gifts and grants are made as advancements, if expressed in the gift or grant to be made, or if charged in writing by the decedent as an advancement, or acknowledged in writing as such by the child, or other successor or heir.

SEC. 547. If the value of the estate so advanced is expressed in the conveyance, or in the charge thereof, made by the decedent, or in the acknowledgment of the advance party receiving it, it must be held as of that value, in the division and distribution of the estate, otherwise it must be estimated according to its value when given, as nearly as the same can be ascertained.

Rule to value ment.

scendants of person receiving advance

SEC. 548. If any child or other lineal descendant, receiving advancement, dies before the decedent, leaving Lineal de issue, the advancement must be taken into consideration in the division and distribution of the estate, and the ment to be amount thereof must be allowed accordingly by the representatives of the heirs receiving the advancement, in like manner as if the advancements had been made directly to them.

charged with

same.

Application

SEC. 549. The provisions of the preceding section of of preceding this title as to the inheritance of the husband and wife from each other, apply only to the separate property of the decedent.

section to

husband and

wife.

SEC. 550. Upon the death of the wife the entire community property, without administration, belongs to the surviving husband, except such portion thereof as may have been set apart to her by judicial decree for her support and maintenance, which portion is subject to her testamentary disposition; and in the absence of such disposition goes to her descendants or heirs, exclusive of her husband.

SEC. 551. Upon the death of the husband one-half of the community property goes to the surviving wife,

and the other half is subject to the testamentary disposition of the husband; and in the absence of such disposition goes to his descendants, equally, if such descendants are in the same degree of kindred to the decedent, otherwise, according to the right of representation; and in the absence of both such disposition and such descendants, is subject to distribution in the same manner as the separate property of the husband. In case of the dissolution of the community by the death of the husband, the entire community property is equally subject to his debts, the family allowance, and the charges and expenses of administration.

SEC. 552. Inheritance or succession "by right of representation" takes place when the descendants of any deceased take the same show, or right, in the estate of another person that their parents would have taken if living. Posthumous children are considered as living at the death of their parents.

Right of suc

ident alien.

SEC. 553. Resident aliens may take in all cases by succession as citizens; and no person capable of succeed- cession of resing under the provisons of this title is precluded from such succession by reason of the alienage of any relative; but no non-resident foreigner can take by succession, unless he appears and claims such succession within cession of forfive years after the death of the decedent to whom he claims succession.

SEC. 554. When succession is not claimed as provided in the preceding section, the district court, on information, must direct the district attorney of the district in which the property is situated to reduce the property to his or the possession of the territory, or to cause the same to be sold, and the same or the proceeds thereof to be deposited in the territorial treasury for the benefit of such non-resident foreigner or his legal representatives, to be paid to him whenever, within five years after such deposit, proof to the satisfaction of the territorial auditor and treasurer is produced that he is entitled to succeed thereto.

Right of suc

eigner.

Proceeding court if prop claimed un

erty

tion.

Voucher of

when property claimed.

SEC. 555. When so claimed, the evidence and the joint order of the auditor and treasurer must be filed by treasurer the treasurer as his voucher, and the property delivered, or the proceeds paid to the claimant on filing his receipt therefor. If no one succeeds to the estate or proceeds, as herein provided, the property of the decedent ty of decedent devolves and escheats to the people of the territory, and is placed by the territorial treasurer to the credit of the school fund.

When

proper

escheats to territory.

against real

SEC. 556. Real property passing to the territory Charges under the last section, whether held by the estate or its terri- officers, is subject to the same charges and trusts to which tory under it would have been subject if it had passed by succes

property pass

last section.

Liability of successor

sion.

SEC. 557. Those who succeed to the property of a to decedent are liable for his obligations, in the cases and to the extent prescribed by the laws of this territory.

decedent's

estate.

Repealing

Saving

clause.

clause.

SEC. 558. That an act entitled "An Act in relation to administrators and executors" (general and miscellaneous laws), codified statutes, save and except sections 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, and 299 thereof, be and the same are hereby repealed: Provided, That the provisions of said act shall be and remain in force so far as, and shall be applicable to all estates now in course of administration, and upon which letters testamentary or administration have issued to the settlement and winding up of such estates, and the discharge of the executor and plicable to es administrator therein, so far as such act may be applicacourse of ad-ble and provide for; but in any matter or thing for which said act may contain no provision the provisions of this this act shall be applicable.

How far ap

tates i n

ministration.

When act to

take effect.

SEC. 559. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, A. D. 1877, and the act mentioned in the last preceding section shall continue in force until the date last aforesaid.

Approved February 16th, 1877.

NOTARIES PUBLIC.

AN ACT to amend section 10 of an act concerning notaries public, approved February 8th, 1876 (session laws, 1876, page 115).

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of Montana territory, that section 10 of an act concerning notaries public, approved February 8th, 1876, be amended so as to read as follows: "SECTION 10. Every applicant for the commission of notary public shall give bond to the territory of Montana in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, with two good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the clerk of the county in which said applicant resides, conditioned for the true and faithful performance of the duties of his office; and upon the filing of such bond in the office of the governor of the territory of Montana, the said governor may issue to said applicant a commission as notary public, for which commission a fee of one dollar shall be paid into the territorial treasury: Provided, That when the applicant resides in an unorganized county, his bond shall be approved by the clerk of the county to which it is attached for judicial purposes."

SEC. 2. That section 10 of the above entitled act is hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved February 9th, 1877.

RAILROAD-HELENA AND BENTON.

AN ACT to facilitate the construction of the Helena and Benton Railroad.

WHEREAS, Under the provisions of an act entitled "An Act to authorize the counties interested to assist in building a railroad from the head of navigation on the Missouri river, at or near Fort Benton, to the city of Helena, Montana territory," approved February 11th, 1876, S. B. Coulson & Co., on the 28th day of August, A. D. 1876, submitted a proposition to the respective counties of this territory to build and construct such railroad, which proposition was duly submitted to the legal voters of the counties of Lewis and Clarke and Choteau; and,

WHEREAS, The county of Lewis and Clarke, aforesaid, did, at the general election held after the approval of said bill, vote an issue of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, in bonds of said county, to aid in the construction of such road under said proposition of S. B. Coulson & Co.; and,

WHEREAS, The legal voters of said Choteau county, at said general

election, did vote for an issue of eighty thousand dollars of bonds for said purpose; and the total amount, viz: seven hundred thousand dollars, of bonds not having been yet voted by the said counties of Montana territory interested in the construction of said road, and which were required to insure its construction; therefore,

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana: SECTION 1. That the action of the respective boards of county commissioners of Lewis and Clarke and Choteau counties, in submitting the said proposition of said S. B. Coulson & Co. to the legal voters of said several counties, and the voting of the said several issues of said bonds, under the said proposition, to aid in construction of the said road, be, and the same are hereby, declared legal and valid.

SEC. 2. That the second section of said act shall be amended to read as follows: "The board of county commissioners of any county of the territory of Montana are hereby authorized, and it shall be their duty, and they are hereby required, upon the petition of a number of qualified voters of any county equal to one-seventh of the votes cast at the last general election held in said county, within the limits of said county, which petitioners shall be bona fide residents and tax payers upon real or personal property of said county, to submit to the legal voters of their respective counties a proposition to issue county bonds of any such county, for an amount designated in such petition, to aid in the construction of such railroad, not to exceed twenty per cent of the amount of assessed value of the taxable property in such county, to be determined by the assessor's returns made the year previous to submitting such proposition, to said S. B. Coulson & Co., or to their order or assigns, in accordance with their said proposition, so made as aforesaid: Provided, That the whole amount of bonds to be issued shall not exceed the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars."