and the time of accounting for the duty. In cases where there is no absolute direction to sell the real estate, but only a power to sell under certain circumstances or at the discretion of the devisees in trust, the reader is referred to the cases In re Evans; The Advocate General v. Ramsay, and the Attorney General v. Mangles, for which see the Appendix. In all cases the rents are considered liable to duty from the time when the conversion into personalty is effected under the terms of the will. STATUTE 48 GEO. III. C. 149, S. 44. Where any receipt or discharge, given for any legacy or for the residue, or any share of the residue of any personal estate, which shall have been given by will or other testamentary instrument, or have devolved to any person or persons upon intestacy, shall be brought to the head office to be stamped after the expiration of three calendar months from the date thereof, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to cause the same to be duly stamped for making the same available, on payment of the duty which shall be payable in respect thereof, together with the penalty incurred in consequence of the same not having been brought to be stamped before the expiration of such three calendar months; and where any such receipt or discharge shall have been signed out of Great Britain, if the same shall be brought to be stamped within twenty-one days after its being received in Great Britain, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to remit any penalty that may have been incurred thereon, and to cause the same to be duly stamped on payment of the duty payable in respect thereof, any thing contained in any former Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding. This is the clause referred to in page 140, as modifying the enactments of the 36th Geo. III. c. 52, in regard to stamping receipts, on which the duties may not have been paid within the limited periods. As the law stood under the last-mentioned Act, an executor who had omitted to pay the duty on any legacy, within three months from the date of the receipt, even though the omission should have happened without any intention to defraud, could by no means whatever obtain a legal discharge for such legacy. A law so rigorous was liable to operate with disproportionate severity in many cases, even with regard to legacies payable out of personal estate; but the rigour of the law was found to be much more severe after the passing of the 45th Geo. III. c. 28, which extended the duties to real estate; for the impossibility of procuring legal evidence of the satisfaction of a legacy with which an estate was charged, might seem to be a defect in the title to such estate. It became necessary, therefore, to alter the law in this respect; and at the same time the opportunity was taken of providing specially for the case of a legacy receipt signed out of Great Britain, which it is obvious the framers of the Act of the 36th Geo. III. c. 52, had not adverted to. As the law now stands in the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth sections of the 36th Geo. III. c. 52, and by the forty-fourth section of the 48th Geo. III. c. 149, the commissioners of stamps have power to stamp receipts after three months from their date, if the penalty of ten pounds per cent. on the legacy be paid in addition to the duty, but still the commissioners have no power to stamp such receipts, under any circumstances whatever, unless both the penalty and the duty be paid. STATUTE 55 GEO. III. C. 184. The clauses in this Act which relate to probate and administration duties have already been fully explained in the first portion of this work. There are no clauses in the body of the Act which relate to legacy duties, but the schedule to this Act imposes the now existing duties on probates, administrations, and inventories, and likewise the duties on legacies and successions. The scale of the probate, admi nistration, and inventory duties, will be found in the Appendix, but this seems the more proper place for introducing that portion of the act which imposes the legacy duties, and is as follows, viz. : Duty per cent. £ s. LEGACIES and SUCCESSIONS to personal or moveable estate upon intestacy. 1. Where the testator, testatrix, or intestate died before or upon the 5th day of April, 1805. For every legacy, specific or pecuniary, or of any other description, of the amount or value of twenty pounds or upwards, given by any will or testamentary instrument of any person who died before or upon the 5th day of April, 1805, out of his or her personal or moveable estate, and which shall be paid, delivered, retained, satisfied, or discharged after the 31st day of August, 1815: Also for the clear residue, (when devolving to one person), and for every share of the clear residue (when devolving to two or more persons), of the personal or moveable estate of any person who died before or upon the 5th day of April, 1805, (after deducting debts, funeral expenses, legacies, and other charges first payable thereout), whether the title to such residue, or any share thereof, shall accrue by virtue of any testamentary disposition, or upon a partial or total intestacy, where such residue, or share of residue, shall be of the amount or value of twenty pounds or upwards, and where the same shall be paid, delivered, retained, satisfied, or discharged after the 31st day of August, 1815: Where any such legacy, or residue, or share of such residue shall have been given, or have devolved to or for the benefit of a brother or sister of the deceased, or any descendant of a brother or sister of the deceased, a duty at and after the rate of two pounds ten shillings per cent., on the amount or value thereof 2 10 LEGACIES, &c.-continued. Duty per cent. £ S. The same to a brother or sister of the father or mother of the deceased, or any descendant of a brother or sister of the father or mother of the deceased. The same to a brother or sister of a grandfather or grandmother of the deceased, or any descendant of a brother or sister of a grandfather or grandmother of the deceased. 4 0 The same to any other person in any other degree of collateral consanguinity to the deceased than is above described, or to, or for the benefit of, any stranger in blood to the deceased. 5 0 8 0 II. Where the testator, testatrix, or intestate shall Also, for the clear residue, (when devolving 'to one LEGACIES, &c.-continued. Duty per cent. the title to such residue or any share thereof, shall accrue by virtue of any testamentary disposition, or upon a partial or total intestacy, where such residue, or share of residue, shall be of the amount or value of twenty pounds or upwards, and where the same shall be paid, delivered retained, satisfied, or discharged after the 31st day of August, 1815: And also for the clear residue (when given to one person), and for every share of the clear residue (when given to two or more persons), of the monies to arise from the sale, mortgage, or other disposition of any real or heritable estate directed to be sold, mortgaged, or otherwise disposed of by any will or testamentary instrument of any person who shall have died after the 5th day of April, 1805, (after deducting debts, funeral expenses, legacies, and other charges, first made payable thereout, if any), where such residue, or share of residue, shall amount to twenty pounds or upwards, and where the same shall be paid, retained, or discharged after the 31st day of August, 1815: Where any such legacy, or residue, or any share of residue, shall have been given, or shall have de- The same to a brother or sister of the deceased, or £ . 10 30 50 S. |