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affecting any real or personal estate (other) than and except charges and directions for the payment of any debt or debts) shall be thereby given or made, it shall be utterly null and void; and such person shall be admitted as a witness, to prove the execution of such will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof. The sixteenth and seventeenth sections enact, that creditors and executors may attest and be admitted wit

nesses.

Let us take a summary as to the formalities necessary to a will, according to the old and new laws.

Writing is necessary, except as to wills of personal estate by soldiers and seamen, but their wills of real estate must follow the provisions of this act; the exceptions under the old law, were also wills of personal estate, not exceeding 301., and parol wills of personalty of any amount within the Statute of Frauds. Signature by the testator, or by another in his presence and by his direction -at the end. It is perhaps safe though certainly not necessary, that where the will consists of several sheets, each sheet should be separately signed, only the last, would be the signature under the act; and it must be made or acknowledged in the jointpresence of two witnesses, except under the old law; wills of personal estate and copyholds, and as to appointments of testamen. tary guardians, in the presence of two witnesses. The attestation must be by two witnesses, who attests and subscribes the will in testator's presence; the exceptions under the old laws were:-as to freehold estates, (including estates pour autre vie) by three credible witnesses, in the presence of the testator as to a devise at law of stock in the funds, by two credible witnesses, and the same as to the appointment of guardians. Credible witnesses are not now necessary; convicted felons or lunatics, known to be so, will be sufficient. Beneficial gifts by the will to witnesses, except charges of debts, void, and also to the wife or husband of those claiming under such witness; but it was only void under the old law, as to wills containing devises of freehold estates, and it should seem, bequests, at law, of stock. Probate, as to wills of personal property, and under the old law, as to appointments, such further solemnities as the power may have prescribed. Military and naval officers of all ranks are included in the description of soldiers, mariners, and seamen.

As to the revocation of wills. By section eighteen, every will shall be revoked by marriage (except a will made in exercise of a power of appointment, when the estate thereby appointed would not, in default of such appointment, pass to the heir, customary heir, executor, or administrator, or the person entitled as next of kin under the Statute of Distributions). Section nineteen enacts, that no will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances. The twentieth

section enacts, that no will, or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed as aforesaid, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed like a will, or by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator, or by some person in his presence, and by his direction, with the intention of revoking the same. By section twenty-one, no obliteration, interlineation or other alteration made in any will after execution, shall be valid or have any effect (except so far as the words or the effect of the will before such shall not be apparent), unless such be executed like a will; but the will, with such alteration as part thereof, shall be deemed to be duly executed, if the signature of the testator, and the subscription of the witnesses be made in the margin, or on some other part of the will opposite or near to such alteration, or at the foot, or end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to such alteration, and written at the end or some other part of the will.

There are only four modes now by which wills can be revoked, and in simply stating them, we will glance at the old law respecting it. 1. By marriage in all cases, which, however, does not affect appointments of property, which would not devolve on the testator's representatives in default of appointment. Under the old law, it was marriage of a testatrix, or of a testator, and the birth of a child capable of benefiting by the revocation, arising from implication, and capable of being rebutted by circumstances. As to personalty, by the birth of children by a wife taken before the will made under special circumstances. 2. By express declaration contained in a will or codicil, or revoking instrument executed as a will, except wills of personal estate by soldiers and seamen revokable by parol; under the old law, by parol simply as to nuncupative wills, devises of customary and copyhold property, testamentary appointment of guardians; and perhaps, devises of estates pour auter vie. As to written wills of personalty by parol committed to writing in the testator's lifetime, and proved by three witnesses to have been read to and allowed by him. As to freehold property, by a will or codicil, executed according to the Statute of Frauds, or by a revoking instrument signed by the testator in the presence of three witnesses. 3. By destruction, cancellation, &c. By an unattested burning, tearing, or other destroying of the substance of the will, with intention to revoke, and by an attested obliteration, interlineation, or alteration of the writing. Under the old law, by an unattested destruction or cancellation of the will itself, or of the writing, or part of it, with intention to revoke; but dependent on the validity of any substituted gifts, which, as to freeholds, &c., must be attested. 4. By alterations in, or attempted dealings with, the property. The twenty-third section en

acts, that no conveyance or other act, made | or done subsequently to the execution of a will, of or relating to any real or personal estate therein comprised, except an act by which such will shall be revoked as aforesaid, shall prevent the operation of the will with respect to such estate as the testator shall have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death. The revocation extends only to an actual alienation, at law of the legal, in equity of the equitable, ownership subsisting at the testator's death. According to the old law, it could be brought about by interruption or destruction of the original seisin, except a disseisin by fraud, or to which the testator is remitted. Except, also, at law a partition, and in equity a mortgage. By modification of the equitable ownership. By an attempt to dispose differently of the property, failing from any other cause than fraud, or the disability of the testator.

As to republication and revival. The twenty-second section enacts, that no will or codicil, or any part thereof, in any manner revoked, shall be revived, otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil duly executed, and shewing an intention to revive the same, and when any will or codicil partly revoked, and afterwards wholly revoked shall be revived, such revival shall not extend to so much thereof as shall have been revoked before the revocation of the whole thereof, unless an intention to the contrary shall be shewn. Now this took place under the previous order of things:-by parol as to personal and copyhold property. Republi cation, but not revival, by surrender to the use of the will as to copyholds. By re execution, with the formalities appropriate to the nature of the property. By codicil to the will; but not so as to pass after-acquired lands, if the codicil in terms restrict the operation of the will to the lands originally devised, and by revival, but not republication, by cancellation of the revoking instrument.

As to the time from which the will speaks and takes effect. The twenty-fourth section enacts, that every will shall be construed, with reference to the real and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention appear by the will.

Now

as to the persons to whom the property is given, the old rules of construction remain unaltered, and they are these:-as to persons described in the will by name, or otherwise individually from the date of the will: and as to persons described as a class, from the testator's death, unless a contrary intention appear. But as to illegitimate children from the date of the will. The operation of the clause then is restricted to the property, which is from testator's death, unless a contrary intention appear. Now under the old regulations, it is, as to personal property, from the date of the death, except where gifts are held to be specific; and as to freehold and copyhold property, from the date of the will.

As to lapse and failure of gifts. The twenty-fifth section enacts, that, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, devises contained in wills, which shall fail or be void by reason of the death of the devisec in the lifetime of the testator, or by reason of such devise being contrary to law, or otherwise incapable of taking effect, shall be included in the residuary devise (if any) contained in such will. A declaration in the will, as to the destination of lapsed and void gifts, will, of course, exclude the operation of this section.

By the thirty-second section it is enacted, that where any person to whom any real estate shall be devised, for an estate tail, or an estate in quasi entail, shall die in the lifetime of the testator, leaving issue who would be inheritable under such entail, and any such issue shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. And by the thirty-third section it is enacted, that where any person being a child or other issue of the testator, to whom any real or personal estate shall be devised or bequeathed, for any estate or interest not determinable at or before the death of such person, shall die in the lifetime of the testator leaving issue, and any such issue of such person shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise or bequest shall not lapse, after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. This clause applies to the lapse of gifts to children or other issue of the testator only; as to strangers, lapse will deprive their issue of all benefit from the gitt as heretofore.

But to our summary. As a general rule, gifts to persons, fail by their death in the testator's lifetime, notwithstanding a declaration that they shall not lapse, with these excep tions, in the case of gifts in joint-tenancy to several, of whom one, at least, survives the testator, and this rule obtained before the 1st January, 1838. The further exceptions under this act are, in the case of a gift to a person in tail, or quasi in tail, who leaves issue in tail surviving the testator, and also a gift of an absolute or transmissible interest to a child or other issue of the testator, who leaves issue surviving the testator. The question then occurs, for whose benefit do these gifts lapse? If it be a share in the resi due, for the benefit of the real or personal representatives of the testator, according to the nature of the property. If of a specific gift, for the benefit of the residuary devisee or legatee; under the old law, it was this: if a specific gift of freehold or copyhold, for the benefit of the heir, but of a mere charge on the land, for the benefit of the residuary or specific devisee of that land; if of a speci fic gift of personalty, for the benefit of the residuary legatee.

As to the construction of a general devise

4

of lands, the twenty-sixth section enacts, that a devisee of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place, or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a customary, copyhold, or leasehold estate, if the testator had no freehold estate which could be described by it, should be construed to include the customary copyhold and leasehold estates of the testator, or his customary copyhold or leasehold estates, or any of them, to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention appear. Under the old law, the construction was this, it included freeholds and copyholds: if no copyholds nor freeholds to satisfy the devise, then leaseholds.

As to the expressions necessary to execute a general power, the twenty-seventh section enacts, that a devise or bequest in general terms, of real or personal property, shall be construed to include any property, coming within the description, which the testator may have power to appoint in any manner he may think proper, unless a contrary intention shall appear. Under the old law, it was any gift to be construed as necessarily referring either to the power, or the specific property which is the subject of it.

As to the devise of a fee, the twenty-eighth section enacts, that where any real estate shall be devised to any person without any words of limitation, such devise shall be construed to pass. the fee simple, or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a contrary intention appear, but under the old law, only a life estate passed, unless words were used to shew an intention to pass the fee.

The absolute interest in personalty, including leaseholds, passes under both laws.

The twenty-ninth section enacts, that in any devise or bequest of real or personal estate, the words "die without issue," or "die without leaving issue," or "have no issue," or any other words importing either a want or failure of issue of any person in his lifetime or at the time of his death or an indefinite failure of his issue, shall be construed to mean on a want or failure of issue in the lifetime or at the time of the death of such person, and not an indefinite failure of his issue, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, by reason of such person having a prior estate tail, or of a preceding gift, being, without any implication arising from such words, a limitation of an estate tail to such person, or issue, or otherwise: provided, that this act shall not extend to cases where such words as aforesaid import, if no issue described in a preceding gift shall be born, or if there shall be no issue who shall live to attain the age, or otherwise answer the description required for obtaining a vested estate, by a preceding gift to such issue. The construction of which is simply this,

that such words mean a failure of issue at the death of the ancestor named, unless a contrary intention appear; whereas, under the old law, they meant an indefinite failure of issue, unless expressions or circumstances indicated a contrary intention.

Now as to the estate of trustees under a general devise, the thirtieth section enacts, that where any real estate (other than or not being a presentation to a church) shall be devised to any trustee or executor, such devise shall be construed to pass the fee-simple or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a definite term of years, absolute or determinable, or an estate of freehold, shall thereby be given to him expressly or by implication.

And the language of the thirty-first section is this: that where any real estate shall be devised to a trustee, without any express limitation of the estate to be taken by such trustee, and the beneficial interest in such real estate, or in the surplus rents and profits thereof, shall not be given to any person for life, or such beneficial interest shall be given to any person for life, but the purposes of the trust may continue beyond the life of such person, such devise shall be construed to vest in such trustee, the fee-simple, or other the whole legal estate which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, and not an estate determinable when the purposes of the trust shall be satisfied.

It will have been remarked how very nearly the conditions or postulates necessary to bring these clauses into operation are identical. They differ but in these four respects. The first clause embraces all real estates, except presentations, the second contains no such exception. The first extends to devises to executors, the second does not, though this is a nominal difference. The first permits implied limitations to prevent its operation, the second does not. The second does not apply where the beneficial interest is given to a person for life, and the trustee has no duty which may outlive the life of that person; the first does apply to such a case, being irrespective of all trusts, except such as may raise an implication of estate against it. But what do they effect when in action? They give the fee to the trustee, while, under the old state of things, such an estate passes as is commensurate with the trusts.

As to what wills and estates pour autre vie are within this act, the thirty-fourth section enacts, that this act shall not extend to any will made before 1st January, 1838, and that every will re-executed or republished, or revived by any codicil, shall for the purposes of this act, be deemed to have been made at the time at which the same shall be so reexecuted, republished, or revived; and that this act shall not extend to any estate pur autre vie of any person who shall die before 1st January, 1838.

The thirty-fifth section enacts, that this | WINE, adulteration of, an offence against act shall not extend to Scotland, and the thirty-sixth and last section, that the act night have been amended, altered, or repealed in the then session of Parliament; but it has not been altered since it passed into a law.

WILL, estate at. It originates in mutual agreement and is not bounded by any definite limit of time, but depends upon the concurrence of both parties, being at the reciprocal will of both. It is the lowest estate which can arise by agreement between parties. The agreement may be either verbal or in writing, and must be followed by the entry of the grantee upon the land, but in many cases it arises by legal construction, as in the following instances:-If a tenant for years hold over the term, and continues to pay rent, the acceptance of rent makes his interest an estate at will. If a person make a feoffment and deliver the deed, without giving livery of seisin, and the feoffee enters, he is tenant at will. If a person enter upon lands under a void lease, paying rent, he is but a tenant at will. So also, if a person enter under an agreement for a lease, or under a contract to purchase the estate, with the vendor's consent. If a nortgagor continue in possession of the lands mortgaged after default in repayment of the money, and there is no clause in the mortgage deed that the mortgagor should hold until default, he is tenant at will.

Either party nay determine the estate. The lessor can do so by an express declaration that the lessee shall hold no longer, which should either be made on the land or notice of it served upon the lessee. But if he exercise any right of ownership, unless it be with the lessee's consent, inconsistent with the enjoyment of the estate, it will put an end to it, as entering upon the land, cutting down trees demised, making a feoffment or lease for years to commence immediately. If the lessee cominit an act of desertion or do anything inconsistent with his estate, as assigning it to another person or committing waste, but a verbal declaration that he will hold the lands no longer does not determine his estate, unless he waive, at the same time, the possession. Neither party can determine this estate at a time when it would be beneficial to the other; and six months notice must be given before bringing an action of ejectinent. The tenant at will is entitled to emblements when his estate is determined by the lessor or the act of God.

The courts of law have lately been very reluctant to construe demises, where no certain term is mentioned, to be estates at will, but rather deem them to be tenancies from year to year. Watk. Conv. 1. WINCHESTER, the standard measure; which was originally kept at Winchester. WINDAS or WINDLASS, wanlass: which see. WINDOW TAX, a tax on windows, where a house contains more than six, and is worth more than five pounds per annum.

public health, and punished with the for feiture of 1007. if done by the wholesale merchant, and 401. if done by the vintner or retail trader. 11 Car. II., c. 25, § 11; 1 W. & M., st. 1, c. 39, § 20. WINTER HEYNING, the season between 11th November and 23rd April, which is excepted from the liberty of commoning in certain forests. 23 Car. II., c. 3. WISTA, half a hide of land or sixty acres. WITAM, the purgation from an offence by the oath of the requisite number of witWITCHCRAFT, conjuration.

nesses.

No prosecution shall for the future be carried on against any person for witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or for charging another with any such offence; but all persons pretending to use the same shall be punishable by imprisonment. 9 Geo. II., c. 5; 5 Geo. IV., c. 85, § 4.

WITE [Sax.], a punishment, pain, penalty, mulet.

WITEKDEN, a taxation of the West Saxons,
imposed by the public council of the
kingdom.

WITENA or WITTENA-GEMOTE [conven-
tus sapientium], a convention or assembly of
great men to advise and assist the Sove-
reign, answerable to our parliament in the
time of the Saxons. See PARLIAMENT.
WITENS, the chief of the Saxon lords or
thanes, their nobles and wise men.
WITHERNAM [wieder, Sax., other, and
naam, a taking], reprisals. See LETTERS
OF MARQUE; Replevin.
WITHERSAKE, an apostate, or perfidious
renegado.

WITHOUT IMPEACHMENT OF WASTE.
See ABSQUE IMPETITIONE VASTI.
WITNESS, one who gives evidence in a cause,
See EVIDENCE.

WITTENA-GEMOT. See WITENA.
WOLD [Sax.], a down, or open country.
WOLFESHEAD or WOLFERHEFOD) (Sax.],
the condition of such as were outlawed in
the time of the Saxons, who, if they could
not be taken alive to be brought to justice,
might be slain, and their heads brought to
the King; for they were no more accounted
of than a wolf's head. Bract. 1. 3.
WONG [Sax.], a field. Spelm.
WOOD-CORŃ, a certain quantity of grain
paid by the tenants of some manors to the
lord for the liberty to pick up dried or
broken wood.

WOOD-Geld, the cutting of wood within
the forest, or rather the money paid for the

same.

WOODMOTE, the forty days court: which see. WOOD-PLEA-COURT, a court held twice in the year in the forest of Clun in Shropshire, for determining all matters of wood and agistments.

WOODWARDS, officers of the forest, whose duty consists in looking after the wood and vert and venison, and preventing offences relating to the same. Manw. 189.

WOOLSACK, the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords. WORDS. See DEFAMATION.

WORKHOUSES, municipal institutions for the support and maintenance of paupers. See POOR LAWS.

WORT or WORTH [weorth, Sax.], a curtilage or country farm. WORTHINE OF LAND, a certain quantity

of ground so called in the manor of Kingsland in Hereford; the tenants are called worthies.

WOUND, any lesion of the body, whether cuts, bruises, contusions, fractures, dislocations, or burns. In surgery, it is confined to a solution of continuity.

The judicial questions which arise in cases of wounds, are: how far has the person who caused the injury contributed to the death of the deceased, or to the lesion of one or other of the functions of the body? And to what is a certain wound to be referred ?

Wounds, from their nature, may be either slight, dangerous, or mortal. A slight wound is where there are no parts injured that are important in carrying on life, or any of its functions, and which heals quickly, leaving no lesion or deformity. A dangerous wound is not mortal, though not exempt from danger presenting difficulties in its cure. A mortal wound produces

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1. The constitution and age of the patient, and his antecedent as well as co-existent maladies may exercise a baleful influence on the injury received.

2. The passions of the patient, and his negligence or delay, or that of his attendants, may render slight wounds dangerous, or dangerous wounds mortal.

3. Insalubrity of the atmosphere, whether it be of a local nature, or the general constitution.

4. The ignorance or negligence of the surgeon may aggravate or endanger the condition of a wounded patient. Beck's Med. Jurisp., c. xv. See MAYHEM. Wreccum maris significat illa bona quæ naufragio ad terram pelluntur.-(A wreck of the sea signifies those goods which are driven to shore by a shipwreck.)

WRECK, such goods as after a shipwreck are cast upon the land by the sea, and left there within some county, for they are not wrecks so long as they remain at sea in the juris

If

diction of the admiralty. 2 Inst. 167. any live thing escape, or if proof can be made of the property of any of the goods of lading which come to shore, they shall not be forfeited to the Crown as wreck. The sheriff of the county is bound to keep the goods a year and a day, that if any man can prove a property in them, either in his own right or by right of representation, they shall be restored to him without delay; but if no such property be proved within that time, they shall then go to the Crown. If the goods be of a perishable nature, the sheriff may sell them, and the money shall be liable in their stead. Stat. West. 1, 3 Edw. I., c. 4.

This revenue of wrecks is frequently granted to lords of manors as a royal franchise.

Plundering wrecks is felony punishable with transportation or imprisonment. 7 Wm. IV, and 1 Vict., c. 84. WRECK-FREE, exemption from the forfeiture of ship-wrecked goods and vessels, which the Cinque Ports enjoy by a charter of Edward I.

WRIT [breve, Lat.], a judicial process, by which any one is summoned as an offender; a legal instrument to enforce obedience to the orders and sentences of the courts. For the particular writs see their distinctive names, as assistance, error, &c.

The 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 27, abolished a great number of writs. It enacted (§ 36), that "no writ of right patent, writ of right quia dominus remisit curiam, writ of right in capite, writ of right in London, writ of right close, writ of right de rationabili parte, writ of right of advowson, writ of right upon disclaimer, writ de rationabilibus divisis, writ of right of ward, writ de consuetudinibus et servitiis, writ of cessavit, writ of escheat, writ of quo jure, writ of secta de molendinum, writ de essendo quietum de theolonio, writ of ne injuste vexes, writ of mesne, writ of quod permittat, writ of formedon in descender, in remainder, or in reverter, writ of assize of novel disseisin, nuisance, durrein presentment, juris utrum or mort d'ancestor, writ of entry sur disseisin in the quibus, in the per, in the per and cui, or in the post, writ of entry sur intrusion, writ of entry sur alienation, dum fuit non compos mentis, dum fuit infra ætatem, dum fuit in prisoní, ad communem legem, in casu proviso, in consimili casu, cui in vitá, sur cui in vita, cui ante divortium, or sur cui ante divortium, writ of entry sur abatement, writ of entry quare ejecit infra terminum, or ad terminum qui prateriit, or causá matrimonii prælocuti, writ of aiel, besaiel, tresaiel, cosinage, or nuper obiit, writ of waste, writ of partition, writ of disceit, writ of quod ei deforceat, writ of covenant real, writ of warrantia charte, writ of curia claudenda, or writ per quæ servitia, and no other action real or mixed (except a writ of right of dower, or writ of dower unde nihil habet, or a quare impedit, or an ejectment), and no plaint in the nature of any such writ or action, except

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