Catholic University v. Boyd, 227 id. 281.) When a will has been so certified and recorded under the provisions of said sections 9 and 2 the county or probate court grants letters of administration thereon, and further proceedings are had the same as if the will had been originally probated in this State.

If there is any doubt as to the meaning of a statute, courts, in order to find its proper construction, may take into consideration the contemporaneous circumstances and historical facts which led to its enactment. (City of Chicago v. Green, 238 Ill. 258; 26 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, -2d ed. p. 632; 2 Lewis' Sutherland on Stat. Const. -2d ed.--462.) In Great Britain, as we have seen, the ecclesiastical courts alone could take proof as to wills bequeathing personal property. As to lands they had no jurisdiction. (Wells' will, 5 Litt. 273; Marriott v. Marriott, I Strange, 666; In re Payne's will, 4 T. B. Mon. 423.) In England there were two modes of probate: one ex parte and one inter partes. One was proof of the will in "common form" and the other in "solemn form." By the first method the will was taken before the judge of the proper court of probate and proved by attesting witnesses without citing or giving notice to the parties interested. When, however, it was proved under the second method it was done upon the petition of proponent for a hearing and all persons having an interest were cited to be present. The executor of a will proved in common form might, at any time within thirty years, be compelled by any person having an interest therein to prove it in "solemn form." (Luther v. Luther, supra; Waters v. Stickney, 12 Allen, 1.) Previous to the time when notice was required to parties interested, (Hurd's Stat. 1909, par. 21, p. 2284,) the ex parte method of proving wills, under said section 2, (Claussenius v. Claussenius, 179 Ill. 545,) on the testimony of attesting witnesses was analogous to the probate in England in "common form," while the subsequent proceeding in equity to

contest the validity of a will is similar to the probate in "solemn form" by the executor upon being cited by the next of kin. (Luther v. Luther, supra; McArthur v. Scott, 113 U. S. 340.) Under the common law the probate of the will was held binding and could not be contested collaterally as to personalty, but where the question was as to the devise. of lands the probate of the will as to real estate amounted to nothing. The devisee produced the will, and in such controversies had to prove it as any other paper, as well as the capacity of the testator to devise, on every trial. Wells' will, supra; Sneed v. Ewing, 5 J. J. Marsh. 460; Toller on Executors, *50-79; 10 Bacon's Abridgment, (Wilson's Am. ed.) p. 540; Coalter's Exrs. v. Bryan, 1 Gratt. 18; Luther v. Luther, supra.

Section 7, as to the contest of wills, was taken, in substance, in 1829, (Rev. Laws of Ill. 1828-29, sec. 5, p. 193,) from the 11th and 15th sections of the Kentucky law passed February 24, 1797. (Rigg v. Wilton, 13 Ill. 15; Luther v. Luther, supra.) The Kentucky statute was based on the Virginia act of 1785, which was a remodeling of an earlier Virginia act of 1748. (12 Hening's Laws of Va. p. 140; I Littell's Laws of Ky. p. 611.) Sections 2 and 9 of our act on wills were first adopted in this State in 1819 as sections 22 and 23 of an act to regulate the administration and descent of intestate estates. (Laws of 1819, p. 231.) They were in wording identical with the present statute, with the exception that the then section 23 had a provision that within four years after the recording of such will, if it was proven that it was revoked, any parties aggrieved might have former proceedings as to the probating of the will reversed. Said sections 22 and 23 were substantial copies of sections 1 and 2 of a statute of Ohio on proving wills, adopted in 1805. (Stat. of Ohio, 1805, p. 173.) When the legislature of this State revised the law on wills, in 1829, it re-enacted said sections 2 and 9 as sections 2 and 7 of said latter act but omitted the proviso above re

ferred to from said section 7. (Rev. Laws of Ill. 1828-29, p. 192.) Said sections 2, 5 and 7, as adopted in 1829, have remained unchanged in our statute on wills since that date, except as to the numbering of the sections, which are now sections 2, 7 and 9, heretofore set out.

In 1778 Illinois became a county of Virginia. Under the laws of Virginia at that time there was no provision for the probate of wills executed or probated outside of that colony, (4 Littell's Laws of Ky. appendix 2, p. 477,) but a will executed and probated within Virginia could be contested by a bill in chancery any time within seven years. (12 Hening's Laws of Va. sec. II, p. 142.) A law was adopted in that colony with reference to proving foreign wills in 1789, wherein it was provided that such wills should be "contested and controverted in the same manner as the original might have been." 4 Littell's Laws of Ky. appendix 2, sec. 7, p. 484; Abridgment of Public Laws of Va. 1796, sec. 14, p. 335.

The ordinance of 1787 established the Northwest Territory July 13, 1787. That ordinance provided that the Governor and judges to be appointed should have authority to make laws for the territory, and until they "shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in said territory may be devised or bequeathed by will in writing, signed, sealed and delivered by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age) and attested by three witnesses." (Maxwell's Laws of Northwest Territory, p. 3.) While Illinois was a part of the Northwest Territory the authorities passed no law providing, in terms, for will contests, but the Governor and judges adopted an act June 19, 1795, (Maxwell's Laws of Northwest Territory, p. 148,) copied from the Pennsylvania code, (Read's Digest of Penn. Laws, 1801, p. 384,) which, among other things, provided for proving wills in the Northwest Territory on the testimony of two or more credible witnesses and also for foreign wills being recorded in this State for the purpose of conveying title to lands,

and further provided that if any of the wills "whereof copies or probates shall be so as aforesaid produced and given in evidence, shall within seven years after the testator's death appear to be disproved or annulled before any judge or officer having cognizance thereof or shall appear to be revoked or altered by the testator," etc., then parties who may have been aggrieved by the former proceedings might have certain remedies. It is plain from this section that it was understood there was some method of contesting every will. No specific provisions for contesting wills having been made by the authorities of said Northwest Territory, the common law of England, of a general nature and applicable to our condition, and all statutes in aid thereof and to supply defects therein prior to the year 1607, were in force in the Northwest Territory at that time. Lavalle v. Strobel, 89 Ill. 370; Maxwell's Laws of Northwest Territory, p. 175; Laws of Indiana, Aug. 1807, to Nov. 1811, p. 139; 1 Pope's Laws of Ill. Territory, p. 34; I Starr & Cur. Stat. sec. 1, p. 901.

The Northwest Territory was divided into two territories in 1800, one being the eastern division of the territory north-west of the Ohio, (the present State of Ohio,) and all the rest of the Northwest Territory being formed into the territory of Indiana. The provisions of said act of June 19, 1795, with reference to probating wills and receiving them in evidence, above referred to, were adopted verbatim as sections 32 and 33 of an act concerning the granting of letters testamentary and letters of administration for the, settlement of estates in the territory of Indiana, September 17, 1807. (Territorial Laws of Indiana, Aug. 1807, to Nov. 1811, pp. 84-88.) The territory of Illinois was organized in 1809, and these sections were in 1812 incorporated into the territorial laws of Illinois. Pope's Laws of Ill. Territory, pp. 215, 216.

We find no provision in the territorial laws of Indiana while Illinois was a part of that territory, or in the laws of

Illinois while it was a territory by itself, in any way providing for or referring to the contest of wills, except the general reference above quoted as to wills which should be "disproved or annulled," which indicates that all wills could be contested. The first specific provision as to contesting wills in the laws applying to what is now Illinois was a statute passed February 10, 1821, (Laws of 1821, p. 119,) creating a probate court, and providing among other things (sec. 5,) "that any person or persons interested may contest any will, but in all such cases all such persons interested shall have notice by summons at least twenty days before the day assigned for trial." Section 9, with reference to the authenticating and filing of foreign wills, had already been adopted in 1819 and was then in force in the State. Said section 5 provided for the contest of "any will." Beyond question it included not only domestic wills probated in this State, but foreign wills that were filed here for record under the provisions of the then section 23 of the act of 1819, (present section 9.) Evidently this contest was to be very similar to the probate in "solemn form" as provided for under the common law.

Under the common law, as we have seen, there could be a contest every time the will was offered in evidence. At the time present sections 2, 7 and 9 were incorporated in the act on wills of 1829, (being substantially copies of the statutes of Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky,) in every one of those States a copy of a foreign will, duly authenticated and recorded, could be contested, the same as a domestic will. (22 Stat. of Ohio, 1824, sec. 12, p. 121; 2 Morehead & Brown's Digest of Ky. Laws, 1834, sec. 13, p. 1544, and sec. 1, p. 1548; 1 Rev. Code of Va. 1819, p. 379.) The law with reference to the admission of copies of wills in evidence while Illinois was under territorial government was adopted from Pennsylvania. Foreign wills could be contested in Pennsylvania. As bearing on this question, see In re Payne's will, supra; Coalter's Exrs. v. Bryan,