Guenthoer's Estate

Citations

• 235 Pa. 67
• 83 A. 617
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 501

Syllabus

<p>Decedents’ ■ estates — Widow’s $5,000 preference — Statutes — Amendment of statutes — Constitutional law — Acts of April 8, 1888, P. L. 815; April 11, 1848, P. L. 5S6; April SO, 1869, P. L. 77, and A.pril 1, 1909, P. L. 87.</p> <p>1. The Act of April 1, 1909, P. L. 87, creating the widow’s $5,000 preference, applies not only to estates of intestates, but also to the estate of testates where the widow elects to take against the will.</p> <p>2. The Act of April 1, 1909, P. L. 87, entitled “An Act to amend Section 1 of an Act entitled ‘An Act relating to the descent and distribution of the estates of intestates,’ passed and approved April 8, 1S33, defining' and declaring the interest that shall descend to and vest in the surviving husband or wife of such intestate,” does not violate Article III, See. 6, of the Constitution, which provides that “no law shall be revived, amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended or conferred shall be re-enacted and published at length.” The act refers to the general law in force at the time of its passage, and not to any special or particular statutes; therefore the constitutional requirement as to re-enactment and publication has no application.</p> <p>3. Where the reference in an adopting statute is to the law generally which governs the particular subject and not to any specific act or part thereof designated in the adopting act, the reference means the law at the time the exigency arises as to which the law is to be applied; and there is no distinction between acts relating or referring to procedure, and acts affecting substantive rights.</p> <p>4. The Act of April 1, 1909, P. L. 87, giving the widow a preference of $5,000 does not violate the constitution as being inadequate in title, although the act is construed as being applicable to the estate of testates where the widow elects to take against the will, inasmuch as the act deals