ON THE LAW OF EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS. BY EDWARD VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, OF LINCOLN'S INN, ESQ., BARRISTER-AT-LAW. (NOW ONE OF THE JUDGES OF HER MAJESTY'S COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.) Fifth Edition. VOL. I. LONDON: V. & R. STEVENS AND G. S. NORTON; H. SWEET AND W. MAXWELL; Law Booksellers and Publishers. 1856. PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. As the statute 1 Vict. c. 26 (Act for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Wills), is intimately connected with some of the subjects of the following Work, it has been deemed advisable to prefix thereto the whole of the Act, verbatim, with references to those parts of the Treatise which have relation to, or are affected by, the respective enactments. It must be borne in mind, that the statute (see sect. 34) does not extend to any Wills made before the 1st January, 1838 (a). Since the last edition of this Treatise, several statutes have been passed which have rendered extensive alterations necessary in that portion of it which is contained in the 1st and 2nd Books of the 5th Part, and relates to Remedies for and against executors and administrators in Equity. These alterations I have entrusted to the care of my friend Mr. HERBERT FISHER, of the Inner Temple. (a) See infra, p. 113, 176, 188, as to the construction of this clause. Meaning of certain words in this Act; "Will :" 12 Car. II. c. 24. THE STAT. 1 VICT. c. 26. An Act for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Be it enacted, That the words and expressions hereinafter mentioned, which in their ordinary signification have a more confined or a different meaning, shall in this Act, except where the nature of the provision or the context of the Act shall exclude such construction, be interpreted as follows: (that is to say), the word "Will" shall extend to a testament, and to a codicil, and to an appointment by Will or by writing in the nature of a Will in exercise of a power, and also to a disposition by Will and testament or devise of the custody and tuition of any child, by virtue of an Act passed in the twelfth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for taking away the Court of Wards and liveries, and tenures, in capite and by knights service, and purveyance, and for settling a revenue upon his Majesty in lieu thereof, or by virtue of an Act passed in the Parliament of Ireland in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for taking away the Court of Wards and liveries and tenures in capite and by knights service, and to any other testamentary disposition; "Real estate" and the words "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; and the words "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 what 14 & 15 Car. II. (I.) "Personal estate :" soever which by law devolves upon the executor or adminis- 1 Vict. c. 26. trator, and to any share or interest therein: and every word importing the singular number only shall extend and be Number : applied to several persons or things as well as one person or thing; and every word importing the masculine gender only Gender : shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male. Repeal of the Statutes of Wills, 32 H. VIII. c. 1, and 34 & 35 H. VIII. c. 5. 10 Car. I. Sess. 2, c. 2. (L.) Sec. 5, 6, 12, 19, 20, 21, & tute of Frauds 29 Car. II. c. 3;7 W. III. c. 12. (I.) II. And be it further enacted, That an Act passed in the thirty-second year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, intituled The Act of Wills, Wards, and Primer Seisins, whereby a Man may devise Two Parts of his Land; and also an Act passed in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth years of the reign of the said King Henry the Eighth, intituled The Bill concerning the explanation of Wills: and also an Act passed in the Parliament of Ireland, in the tenth year of the reign of King Charles the First, intituled An Act how Lands, Tenements, etc. may be disposed by Will or otherwise, and concerning Wards and Primer Seisins; and also so much of an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King 22 of the StaCharles the Second, intituled An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries, and of an Act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the seventh year of the reign of King William the Third, intituled An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries, as relates to devises or bequests of lands or tenements, or to the revocation or alteration of any devise in writing of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any clause thereof, or to the devise of any estate pur autre vie, or to any such estate being assets, or to nuncupative Wills, or to the repeal, altering, or changing of any Will in writing concerning any goods or chattels or personal estate, or any clause, devise, or bequest therein: and also so much of an Act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of Queen Anne, intituled An Act for the Amendment of the Law and the better Advancement of Justice, and of an Act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, intituled An Act for the Amendment of the Sec. 9 of 14 G. Law and the better Advancement of Justice as relates to witnesses to nuncupative Wills; and also so much of an Act Sec. 14 of 4 & 5 Anne, c. 16. 6 Anne, c. 10. (I.) II. c. 20. |