the due execution of wills in other instances. The effects of seamen,
marines and soldiers, killed or dying in the service, are exempt
from duty. Pay, wages, prize money and pensions due to persons
employed in the navy may be paid out without probate where the
whole assets do not exceed £32. The Board of Trade may at its discretion
dispense with probate of the will of a merchant seaman whose
effects do not exceed £50 in value. By an act passed in 1868 the
existing exemptions are extended to the sum of £100 in the case of
civil service pay or annuities, of civil or military allowances chargeable
to the army votes, and of army prize money. Will made under
power.—A will made under a power of appointment is not revoked
by marriage when the real or personal estate thereby appointed
would not in default of appointment pass to the testator's executor
or administrator or to the next of kin. Before the Wills Act a will
exercising a power of appointment had to conform to any special
requisitions in the power, but since the act the power is duly exercised
if executed and attested like an ordinary will. Registration.—In the
register counties memorials of wills affecting lands in those counties
must be registered. Member of friendly society, &c.—Members of
friendly, industrial and provident societies, depositors in savings
banks, and servants in certain public offices, may under the provisions
of numerous acts make a nomination to an amount not exceeding
£100. Such nomination is practically equivalent to a will,
and may be made at the age of sixteen.
At common law there could be no larceny of a will of lands. But now by the Larceny Act of 1861 stealing, injuring or concealing a will, whether of real or personal estate, is punishable with penal servitude for life. Forgery of a will (at one time a capital crime) renders the offender liable to the same penalty. Fraudulent concealment of a will material to the title by a vendor or mortgagor of land or chattels is, by the Law of Property Amendment Act 1859, a misdemeanour punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. It should be noticed that a contract to make a will containing provisions in favour of a certain person or certain persons is valid if it fulfil the requirements of the law regulating contract. A good example is Synge v. Synge (1894) 1 K.B. 466.
For death duties see Estate Duty, Legacy, Succession Duty.
The principal authorities for the English law are, for the formalities, Sir E. V. Williams, Executors; Holdsworth and Vickers, Law of Succession; J. Williams, Wills and Succession; for the construction, the works of Sir James Wigram and of Messrs Jarman, F. V. Hawkins and Theobald. Precedents will be found in Hayes and Jarman's Concise forms of Wills, and in ordinary collections of precedents in conveyancing. For comparative law see E. Lambert, Le Régime successoral (Paris, 1903).
The act of 1837 applies to Ireland. The main difference between the law of the two countries is that in Ireland a bequest for masses Ireland. for the repose of the testator's soul is valid, provided that the masses be public, in England such a bequest is void as tending to superstitious uses.
Up to 1868 wills of immovable were not allowed in Scotland. The usual means of obtaining disposition of heritage after death was a Scotland. trust disposition and settlement by deed de praesenti, under which the truster disponed the property to trustees according to the trusts of the settlement, reserving a life interest. Thus something very similar to a testamentary disposition was secured by means resembling those employed in England before the Wills Act of Henry VIII. The main disadvantage of the trust disposition was that it was liable to be overthrown by the heir, who could reduce ex capite lecti all voluntary deeds made to his prejudice within sixty days of the death of his ancestor. In 1868 the Titles to Land Consolidation Act made it competent to any owner of lands to settle the succession to the same in the event of death by testamentary or mortis causa deeds or writings. In 1871 reduction ex capite lecti was abolished. A will of immovable must be executed with the formalities of a deed and registered to give title. The disability of a woman as a witness was removed by the Titles to Land Consolidation Act. As to wills of movables, there are several important points in which they differ from corresponding wills in England, the influence of Roman law being more marked. Males may make a will at fourteen, females at twelve. A nuncupative legacy is good to the amount of £100 Scots (£8, 6s. 8d.), and a holograph testament is good without witnesses, but it must be signed by the testator, differing in this from the old English holograph. By the Conveyancing Act 1874 such a will is presumed to have been executed on the date which it bears. Not all movables can be left, as in England. The movable property of the deceased is subject to jus relictae and legitim. See McLaren, Wills and Succession, for the law, and Judicial Styles, for styles.
United States.—By the constitutions of many states laws giving effect to informal or invalid wills are forbidden. The age of testamentary capacity varies very much. Eighteen is a common one. Full liberty of disposition is not universal. Homesteads generally, and dower estates frequently, are not devisable. In some states only a disposable portion of the property can be left, so that children cannot be disinherited without good cause, and in some children omitted in a will may still take their share. It is frequently provided that a certain amount must be left to the widow. Louisiana follows French law, by which the testator can under no circumstances alienate by will more than half his property if he leave issue or ascendants. In some states a married woman may not leave more than half her property away from her husband. Some require the husband's consent and subscription to make the will of a married woman valid. Nuncupative and holograph wills are in use. The former are confined to personalty and must generally be reduced to writing within a short time after the words are spoken. In Louisiana the mystic or sealed will still exists. The number of witnesses necessary for the validity of a will of any kind is usually two, sometimes three. Wills of soldiers and sailors are privileged, as in England. There are several decisions of state courts that belief in spiritualism does not of itself constitute testamentary incapacity.
See Jarman, American edition by Randolph and Talcott.
France.—The law is mainly contained in ss. 967-1074 of the Code Civil. Wills in France may be of three kinds: (1) holograph, which must be wholly written, dated and signed by the testator; (2) made as a public instrument, i.e. received by two notaries before two witnesses or by one notary before four witnesses; this form of will must be dictated by the testator and written by the notary, must be read over to the testator in the presence of the witnesses and must be signed by testator and witnesses; (3) mystic, which are signed by the testator, then closed and sealed and delivered by him to a notary before six witnesses; the notary then draws up an account of the proceedings on the instrument which is signed by the testator, notary and witnesses. Legatees and their blood relations to the fourth degree may not be witnesses. Nuncupative wills are not recognized. Soldiers' and sailors' wills are subject to special rules as in most other countries. Full liberty of disposition only exists where the testator has no ascendants or descendants, in other cases his quantité disponible is subject to réserve; if the testator has one child he may only dispose of half his estate, if two only one-third, if three or more only one-fourth; if he has no descendants but ascendants in both lines he may dispose of half, if ascendants in one line only he may dispose of three-fourths. The full age of testamentary capacity is twenty-one years, but minors over the age of sixteen may dispose by will of half of the estate of which they could dispose had they been of full age. There is no restriction against married women making wills. A contract to dispose of the succession is invalid, s. 791.
The codes of the Latin races in Europe are in general accordance with the French law.
Germany.—Most of the law will be found in the Burgerliches Gesetzbuch, ss. 2064-2273. A holograph will, either single or joint, is allowed. Other wills must be declared before a judge or notary or (outside Germany) a consul. Two witnesses are required, unless the witness be a notary or the registrar of the court, who is sufficient alone. The formalities may be relaxed in certain cases, such as imminent death, a state of siege, a prevailing epidemic, &c. Descendants, ascendants and the husband and wife, are entitled to compulsory portions (pflichtteilsberechtigt). But those prima facie entitled may be deprived of their share for certain specified kinds of misconduct. A contract to make any specified testamentary disposition is inoperative. But a contract of inheritance (Erbvertrag) made inter vivos by direct disposition is valid in certain cases and will operate on the death of the contractor. The modes of revocation are much the same as in England (except marriage). But there is one peculiar to Germany, the inconsistency of a will with an Erbvertrag; in such an event the will is wholly or pro tanto revoked.
International Law.—There are three main directions which the opinion of jurists and the practice of courts have taken. (1) The whole property of the testator may be subjected to the law of his domicil. To this effect is the opinion of Savigny and the German practice. Certain modifications have been made by modern law, especially by the Einführungsgesetz of 1896. (2) The property may be subjected to the law of the place where it happens to be at the
