Persson v. Dukes

Maryland has, as do most if not all of the states, a statute which provides that a legacy contained in a decedent’s will does not lapse because the legatee predeceased the testator. Statutes of this kind virtually turn around the common law rule, and although differing in some respects from state to state, they have a similar purpose. They express, for the vast majority of testators, a true intent which might otherwise go unexpressed, and at the same time, leave every testator entirely free to express a different intent. When the testator’s intent is supplied by the statute, it is supplied…