tuition of any child, by virtue of stat. 12 Car. 2. c. 24. or of stat. 14 & 15 Car. 2. (I.) and to any other testamentary disposition; "real estate," shall extend to manors, advowsons, messuages, lands, tithes, rents, and hereditaments, whether freehold, customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, or of any other tenure, and whether corporeal, incorporeal, or personal, and to any undivided share thereof, and to any estate, right, or interest (other than a chattel interest) therein; "personal estate" shall extend to leasehold estates and other chattels real, and also to monies, shares of government and other funds, securities for money (not being real estates), debts, choses in action, rights, credits, goods, and all other property, which by law devolves upon the executor or administrator, and to any share or interest therein; and every word importing the singular number only shall extend to several persons or things, as well as one person or thing; and every word importing the masculine gender only, shall extend to a female as well as a male. By s. 2. 32 H. 8. c. 1. 34 & 35 H. 8. c. 5. 10 Car. 1. Sess. 2. c. 2. (I.) Sections 5, 6, 12, 19, 20, 21, & 22 of the statute of frauds; 29 Car. 2. c. 3. 7 W. 3. c. 12. (I.) 4 & 5 Anne, c. 16. s. 14. 6 Anne, c. 10. (I.) Section 9 of 14 G. 2. c. 20. 25 G. 2. c. 6. except as to colonies. 25 G. 2. 2. c. 11. (I.) and 55 G. 3. c. 192, are repealed, except so far as the same respectively relate to any wills or estates pur autre vie, to which this act does not extend. Formerly, such real estates only as a person was seised of at the time of making his will, would pass by the will; real estate purchased intermediately between the making the will and the death would not so pass; but now, by s. 3, every person may devise, bequeath, or dispose of, by his will executed in manner herein-after required, all real estate and all personal estate which he shall be entitled to, either at law or in equity, at the time of his death, and which if not so devised would devolve upon the heir at law, or customary heir of him, or, if he become entitled by descent, of his ancestor, or upon his executor or administrator; and the power hereby given shall extend to all real estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant right, or customary or copyhold, notwithstanding that the testator may not have surrendered the same to the use of his will, or notwithstanding that, being entitled as heir, devisee, or otherwise to be admitted thereto, he shall not have been admitted thereto, or notwithstanding that the same, in consequence of the want of a custom to devise or surrender to the use of a will or otherwise, could not at law have been disposed of by

will if this act had not been made, or notwithstanding that the same, in consequence of there being a custom that a will or a surrender to the use of a will should continue in force for a limited time only, or any other special custom, could not have been disposed of by will according to the power contained in this act, if this act had not been made; and also to estates pur autre vie, whether there shall or shall not be any special occupant thereof, and whether the same shall be freehold, customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, or of any other tenure, and whether the same shall be a corporeal or incorporeal hereditament; and also to all contingent, executory, or other future interests in any real or personal estate, whether the testator may or may not be ascertained as the person or one of the persons in whom the same respectively may become vested, and whether he may be entitled thereto under the instrument by which the same respectively were created or under any disposition thereof by deed or will; and also to all rights of entry for conditions broken, and other rights of entry; and also to such of the same estates, interests, and rights respectively, and other real and personal estate, as the testator may be entitled to at the time of his death, notwithstanding that he may become entitled to the same subsequently to the execution of his will.

The 4th section requires, where estates have not been surrendered to the use of will, the payment of fees, fines, and stamp duties, by the devisees of customary freehold, copyhold and customary estates.

The 5th section enacts, that the wills or extracts of wills of customary freeholds, &c. shall be entered on the court rolls, and that the lord shall be entitled to the same fine, &c. when such estates could not have been disposed of by will if this act had not been made, as he would have been from the customary heir in case of descent.

For the 6th section, which relates to estates pur autre vie, see ante p. 800.

By s. 7, no will made by any person under the age of twenty-one years shall be valid; and s. 8. provides, that no will made by any married woman shall be valid, except such a will as might have been made by a married woman before the passing of this act. By s. 9. no will shall be valid unless it shall be in writing and executed in manner herein-after mentioned; (that is to say,) it shall be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction; and such signature shall be

made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, and such witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, but no form of attestation shall be necessary. By s. 10. no appointment made by will, in exercise of any power, shall be valid, unless the same be executed in manner before required; and every will executed in manner before required shall, so far as respects the execution and attestation thereof, be a valid execution of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding it shall have been expressly required that a will made in exercise of such power should be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity.

S. 11, excepts wills of personal estate made by soldiers in actual service, or mariners or seamen at sea.

S. 12, leaves untouched the provisions of 11 G. 4. and 1 W. 4. c. 20, with respect to wills of petty officers and seamen and marines. By s. 13, every will executed in manner before required shall be valid without any publication thereof; and by s. 14, if any person who shall attest the execution of a will shall, at the time of the execution thereof, or at any time afterwards, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution thereof, such will shall not, on that account, be invalid. By s. 15, if any person shall attest the execution of any will, to whom, or to whose wife or husband, any beneficial devise, legacy, estate, gift, or appointment, of or affecting any real or personal estate, (except charges and directions for the payment of any debt,) shall be thereby given or made, such devise, &c. shall, so far only as concerns such person attesting the execution of such will, or the wife or husband of such person, or any person claiming under them, be utterly void; and such person so attesting shall be admitted as a witness to prove the execution of such will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof, notwithstanding such devise, &c. By s. 16, in case by any will any real or personal estate shall be charged with any debt, and any creditor, or the wife or husband of any creditor, whose debt is so charged, shall attest the execution of such will, such creditor, notwithstanding such charge, shall be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, &c.

By s. 17, no person shall, on account of his being an executor of a will, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, &c.

By s. 18, every will made by a man or woman shall be revoked by his or her marriage, (except a will made in exercise

of a power of appointment, when the real or personal estate thereby appointed would not, in default of such appointment, pass to his or her heir, customary heir, executor, or administrator, or the person entitled as his or her next of kin, under the statute of distributions.) By s. 19, no will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances.

By s. 20, no will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed in manner before required, or by some other writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which a will is herein-before required to be executed, or by the 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 s. 21, no obliteration, interlineation, or other alteration made in any will after the execution thereof shall be valid or have any effect, except so far as the words or effect of the will before such alteration shall not be apparent, unless such alteration shall be executed in like manner as herein-before is required for the execution of the 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.

By s. 22, no will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in manner herein-before required, and showing an intention to revive the same; and when any will or codicil which shall be 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 shown.

By s. 23, 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 or interest in such real or personal estate as the testator shall have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death.

By s. 24, every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate 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 shall appear by the will. By s. 25, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, such real estate or interest therein as shall be comprised or intended to be comprised in any devise in such will contained, which shall fail or be void by reason of the death of the devisee 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.

By s. 26, a general devise of the testator's lands shall include copyhold and leasehold as well as freehold lands. By s. 27, a general devise shall include estates over which the testator has a general power of appointment. By s. 28, 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 shall appear by the will. By s. 29, the words "die without issue," or "die without leaving issue," shall be construed to mean, die without issue living at the death. By s. 30, 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. By s. 31, 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.

By s. 32, 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 in