56 ORDINANCE No. 15 OF 1844.
Supreme Court.
the said Court, of the last wills and testaments of all or any of the inhabitants of the
said Colony and its dependencies, and all other persons who shall die, and leave personal
effects within the said Colony and its dependencies : and to commit letters of adminis
tration, under the seal of the said Court, of the goods, chattels, credits, and all other
effects whatsoever of the persons aforesaid, who shall die intestate, or who having left a
will shall not have named an executor resident within the said Colony or its depen
dencies, or where an executor resident as aforesaid, being duly cited, shall not appear
and sue forth such probate : annexing the will to the letters of administration, when such
persons shall have left a will without naming any executor, or where an executor shall
have been named not resident within the said Colony, or where an executor shall have been
named resident within the said Colony or its dependencies, but who being duly cited
thereunto shall not appear and sue forth a probate thereof ; and to sequester the goods,
and chattels, credits, and other effects whatsoever of such persons so dying in cases
allowed by law, as the same is and may be now used in the diocese of London : and to
demand, require, take, hear, examine and allow, and if occasion require to disallow, and
reject the account of them, in such manner and form as may be used in the said diocese,
and to do all other things whatsoever needful and necessary in that behalf.
Court to reserve 16. Provided always, and be it further enacted and ordained , that the said
power of
revocation. Supreme Court, in such cases as aforesaid, is hereby authorized and required , where
letters of administration shall be committed with the will annexed for want of an
executor applying in due time to sue forth the probate, to reserve in such letters of
administration full power and authority to revoke the same, and to grant probate of
the said will to such executor whenever he shall duly appear and sue forth the same.
Court to grant 17. And be it further enacted and ordained, that the said Supreme Court shall
letters of
administration grant and commit such letters of administration to any one or more of the lawful next
to next of kin or
to the Registrar. of kin of such person so dying as aforesaid, being then resident within the jurisdiction
of the said Court, and being of the age of twenty- one years, and in case no such person
shall then be residing within the jurisdiction of the said Court, or being duly cited
shall not appear and pray the same, to the Registrar of the said Court, or to such
person or persons, whether creditor or creditors, or not, of the deceased person, as the
Court shall see fit : Provided always, that probates of wills, and letters of administra
tion to be granted by the said Court, shall be limited to such money, goods, chattels,
credits, and effects as the deceased person shall be entitled to within the said Colony
of Hongkong and its dependencies.
Administrator to 18. And be it further enacted and ordained, that every person to whom such
enter into bond.
letters of administration shall be committed shall, before the granting thereof, give
sufficient security, by bond to be entered into to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Suc
cessors, for the payment of a competent sum of money, with one, two, or more solvent
sureties, respect being had in the sum therein to be contained, and in the ability of the
sureties, to the value ofthe estates, credits, and effects of the deceased, which bond shall
be deposited in the said Court among the records thereof, and there safely kept, and a
copy thereof shall be also recorded among the proceedings of the said Court, and the