Register of Wills may to custodian OF WILLS. Section 3. The Register of Wills for any county in issue a citation this State at his own instance or at the instance or request of any person interested in any instrument of writing purporting to be the last will and testament of any person deceased, or at the instance or request of any person interested in the estate of any deceased person, whose last will and testament or instrument in the nature thereof has not been delivered to the Register of Wills of the County in which said will is, by the person or persons having the custody or possession thereof within ten days from the death of the testator, may issue a citation requiring the person or persons having custody or possession of said instrument to produce and deposit the same in his office for probate, and if such person or persons shall wilfully withhold said instrument of writing for the space of ten days after being personally served with a citation to produce the same, such person of persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by fine or imprisonment or both at the discretion of the Court. Failure to produce will Penalty Approved March 12, A. D. 1913. TITLE THIRTEENTH. Of the Administration of Estates. CHAPTER 269. OF THE SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATES. AN ACT to amend Chapter 225, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, entitled "An Act Providing for a Collateral Inheritance and Succession Tax." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly met: 225, Vol. 25 Section 1. That Chapter 225, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, entitled "An Act Providing for a Collateral In- Sec. 1, Chap. heritance and Succession Tax," be amended by inserting amended in line fifteen of Section 1, after the word "sister" and before the word "or", the words "either of the whole or half blood", and inserting in line sixteen of said Section 1, after that part of the word "sister" that appears in the said line sixteen, "either of the whole or half blood," and by striking out all of line twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, and that part of line thirty-two before the word "and", and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to wit: "only the excess of five hundred dollars of every interest or share in an estate passing to a successor shall be subject to the tax imposed by the provisions of this act;" and by striking out the first line of that part of the second line before the word "it" in the third OF THE SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATES. paragraph of Section 3, and inserting in lieu thereof, the following, to wit: "The Court shall determine what part of the cost of an appeal shall be paid by the State and what part shall be paid by the appellant as it may appear just and equitable.” Section 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Approved February 18, A. D. 1913. TITLE FOURTEENTH. Of Courts of Justice. CHAPTER 270. GENERAL PROVISIONS. AN ACT in relation to the simplifying and expediting of the procedure and trial of Civil and Criminal Causes in the Courts of this State. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly met: Governor to Commission of of the bar Section 1. That within sixty days of the adoption of this Act, the Governor shall appoint two members of the appoint a Bar of New Castle County, two members of the Bar of six members Kent County and two members of the Bar of Sussex County to act as a Commission to investigate and report as to the means of simplifying and expediting the procedure and trial of civil and criminal cases in this State. If any person so selected as aforesaid shall refuse to act Purposes or shall thereafter resign or die, the Governor shall as soon as possible select another member of the Bar of the same County to act in his place and stead. ed created a Section 2. The persons selected as aforesaid shall be Persons selectand are hereby created and constituted a Commission for Commission the purposes mentioned in Section 1 of this Act. The To make report to Judiciary To carry rec of Commission into effect GENERAL PROVISIONS. members of said Commission shall serve without compensation. Section 3. The said Commission shall, after having completed the investigation aforesaid, make report of their findings and recommendations to the Chancellor, the Chief Justice and the four Associate Judges of this State. Section 4. In order that the recommendations of the ommendations said Commission shall be carried into effect as speedily as possible, the Chancellor shall, for the Court of Chancery, and a majority of the other State Judges, shall, for the Supreme Court, the Superior Court, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and the Court of General Sessions, have and they are hereby vested with full power and authority to make and ordain from time to time rules, in make rules &c. term or in vacation, changing the forms and kinds of ac Judiciary given power and authority to tions and proceedings in said Courts, altering the mode and form of pleading in said Courts and the mode of entering and transcribing pleadings, judgments, orders, decrees and other proceedings in said Courts, and prescribing how, in what cases and when, (whether in term or in vacation) judgments may be obtained for want of an affidavit of defense, and fixing the return day of all writs used in the commencement of suits, actions or other proceedings, and making regulations for the payment of costs, and otherwise, for carrying into effect the said ersede all rules. The rules aforesaid, when so made and ordained as aforesaid, shall supersede all statutory provisions inconsistent therewith. Rules when made or or dained to sup statutory provisions inconsistent therewith Report to Section 5. The Commission aforesaid shall also make 1915 Assembly report to the General Assembly at the next session, setting forth the results of the investigation aforesaid, and their recommendations, together with such proposed legislation in the premises, as they deem necessary or advisable. Approved March 26, A. D. 1913 |
