PREFACE

By the Act of April 23, 1915, (P. L. 177) the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania authorized the Governor "to appoint a Commission of three persons, learned in the law, and one of whom shall be an orphans' court judge in commission, to codify and revise the law of decedents' estates whether testate or intestate, and to report the same to the next General Assembly, and to recommend such changes in the existing law as may to such Commission seem advisable."

Acting under this authority, on October 4, 1915, Governor Brumbaugh appointed Hon. John Marshall Gest, then and now a judge of the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia County, Hon. George E. Alter, the present Attorney General, and Hon. Thomas J. Baldrige, the President Judge of Blair County, as Commissioners to carry out the purpose of the act. The wisdom of his choice is best demonstrated by the results of their labor.

The Commission appointed Samuel D. Matlack, Esq. of the Philadelphia Bar, its Law Clerk and Secretary, and through him presented its printed report to the Assembly on February 1, 1917.

It is an indication of the painstaking and valuable work of this Commission that the General Assembly of 1917, enacted without change (except as noted in Section 391 and the end of Section 623 herein) the acts which were offered by the Commission for its consideration. The acts were all approved on June 7, 1917, and include the "Orphans' Court Partition Act," (P. L. 337); the "Orphans' Court Act," (P. L. 363); the "Revised Price Act," (P. L. 388); the "Wills Act," (P. L. 403); the "Register of Wills Act," (P. L. 415); the "Intestate Act," (P. L. 429); and the "Fiduciaries Act," (P. L. 447). On the 11th day of July, 1917, there were approved two acts one (P. L. 755) amending Clause 2, (a) of the Intestate Act, and the other (P. L. 790) providing that fiduciaries having an interest in any coal-mining lease may, with the approval of the court, sell, assign, alter, modify and supplement the same under the same procedure as that prescribed for the sale of real estate under the Revised Price Act.

Several minor changes have also been made by the Legislature in its sessions of 1919 and 1921. Otherwise the code as drafted and presented by the Commissioners remains unchanged, an everlasting monument to their industry and ability. Some idea of the