time of the testator's death. (3) The movable property may be subjected
to the law of the domicil, the immovable (including leaseholds)
to the law of the place where it is situate, the lex loci rei sitae. England
and the United States follow this rule. Testamentary capacity is
generally governed by the law of the testator's domicil at the time
of his death, the form of the instrument in most countries either by
the law of his domicil or the law of the place where the will was made,
at his option. The old rule of English law was to allow the former
alternative only. The law was altered for the United Kingdom in
1861 by the Wills Act l86l (known as Lord Kingsdown's Act),
by which a will made out of the United Kingdom by a British subject
is, as far as regards personal estate, good if made according to the
forms required by the law of the place where it was made, or by the
law of the testator's domicil at the time of making it, or by the law
of the place of his domicil of origin. Subsequent change of domicil
does not avoid such a will. Another act passed on the same day, the
Domicile Act 1861, enacted that by convention with any foreign
government foreign domicil with regard to wills could not be acquired
by a testator without a year's residence and a written declaration
of intention to become domiciled. By the same act foreign consuls
may by convention have certain authority over the wills and property
of subjects of foreign states dying in England. In the United States
some states have adopted the narrow policy of enacting by statute
the old common law rule, and providing that no will is valid unless
made in the form required by the law of the state of the testator's
domicil. The capacity of the testator, revocation and construction
of a will, are governed by the law of the domicil of the testator at the
time of his death—except in cases affected by Lord Kingsdown's
Act, as he must be supposed to have used language in consonance
with that law, unless indeed he express himself in technical language
of another country. A good instance is Groos' Case (1904), Prob. 269,
where it was held that the will of a Dutch woman (at the time of her
death domiciled in England) duly made in Holland was not revoked
by her marriage, that being no ground of revocation by the law of
Holland.[1] The persons who are to take under a will are decided by
different rules according as the property is movable or immovable,
the former being governed by the law of the domicil, the latter by the
lex loci rei sitae. It was held, however, in 1881 by the court of appeal
in England that, under the will of an Englishman domiciled in
Holland, leaving personal property to children, children legitimated
per subsequens matrimonium could take, as they were legitimate by
the law of Holland, though not by the law of England (re Goodman's
Trusts, 17 Ch. D. 266). This principle was carried further in re
Grey's Trusts (1892), 3 Ch. 88, where it was held that a legitimated
child was entitled to share in a devise of English realty. But it is
to be noted that a person born out of lawful wedlock, though legitimated,
cannot succeed as heir to real estate in England (Birtwhistle
v. Vardill, 2 Cl. and F. 895). A will duly executed abroad is generally
required to be clothed with the authority of a court of the country
where any property affected by the will is situate.
(J. W.)
WILLARD, FRANCES ELIZABETH (1839-1898), American reformer, was born at Churchville, Monroe county, New York, on the 28th of September 1839. She attended the Milwaukee Female College in 1857 and in 1859 graduated at the Northwestern Female College at Evanston, Illinois. She then became a teacher, and in 1871-1874 she was president and professor of aesthetics of the Woman's College at Evanston, which became part of the North-Western University in 1873. In 1874 she became corresponding secretary and from 1879 until her death was president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and from 1887 until her death was president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She first spoke in favour of woman's suffrage in 1877; and in 1884 she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Prohibition party. In 1890 she was elected president of the Woman's National Council, which represented nearly all of the women's societies in America. She was one of the founders of Our Union, a New York publication in the interests of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and of the Signal (after 1882 the Union Signal), which she edited in 1892-1898 and which was the Illinois organ of the union. She died in New York City on the 18th of February 1898.
With Mary A. Livermore she edited A Woman of the Century (Buffalo, N.Y., 1893), which includes a sketch of her life; and she published Nineteen Beautiful Years (1864), a life of her sister; How to Win: A Book for Girls (1886), Glimpses of Fifty Years (1889), and, in collaboration with H. M. Winslow, Mrs S. J. White and others, Occupations for Women (1897). See A. A. Gordon, The Beautiful Life of Frances E. Willard (Chicago, 1898), with an introduction by Lady Henry Somerset, and W. M. Thayer, Women Who Win (New York, 1896).
WILLEMITE, a mineral consisting of zinc orthosilicate, Zn2SiO4, crystallizing in the parallel-faced hemihedral class of the rhombohedral system. Crystals have the form of hexagonal prisms terminated by rhombohedral planes: there are distinct cleavages parallel to the prism-faces and to the base. Granular and cleavage masses are of more common occurrence. The colour varies considerably, being colourless, white, greenish yellow, apple-green, flesh-red, &c. The hardness is 5½, and the specific gravity 3.9-4.2. A variety containing much manganese replacing zinc is called “troostite.” Willemite occurs at Sterling Hill, Sussex county, and Franklin Furnace in New Jersey, where it is associated with other zinc ores (franklinite and zincite) in crystalline limestone. It has been found at only a few other localities, one of which is near Liége, and for this reason the mineral was named after William I. of the Netherlands. Under the influence of radium radiations, willemite fluoresces with a brilliant green colour. (L. J. S.)
WILLEMS, FLORENT JOSEPH MARIE (1823-1905), Belgian painter, was born at Liége on the 8th of January 1823. He had no regular tuition in painting, but learnt by copying and restoring old pictures at Malines, where he lived from 1832. He made his debut at the Brussels Salon in 1842 with a “Music Party” and an “Interior of a 17th-century Guard-room” in the style of Terburg and Metsu. Soon afterwards he settled in Paris, where his pictures enjoyed considerable popularity under the second empire. Among his most famous works may be mentioned “The Wedding Dress” (Brussels Gallery), “La Fête des grands-parents” (Brussels Gallery), “Le Baise-main” (Mme. Cardon's collection, Brussels), “Farewell” (Willems coll., Brussels), “The Arches of the Peace” (Delahaye coll., Antwerp) and “The Widow” (engraved by Desvachez). He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine on the 23rd of October 1905.
WILLEMS, JEAN FRANÇOIS (1793-1846), Flemish writer, began life in the office of a notary at Anvers. He devoted his leisure to literature, and in 1810 he gained a prize for poetry with an ode in celebration of the peace of Tilsit. He hailed with enthusiasm the constitution of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and the revival of Flemish literature; and he published a number of spirited and eloquent writings in support of the claims of the native tongue of the Netherlands. His political sympathies were with the Orange party at the revolution of 1830, and these views led him into trouble with the provisional government. Willems, however, was soon recognized as the unquestioned leader of the Flemish popular movement, the chief plank in whose platform he made the complete equality of the languages in the government and the law courts. He died at Ghent in 1846.
Among his writings, which were very numerous, the most important were: Les Sciences et les arts (1816), Aux Belges (1818); Étude sur les origines et l'histoire des temps primitifs de la ville d'Anvers (1828); Mélanges de littérature et d'histoire (1829); besides several learned critical editions of old Flemish texts.
WILLESDEN, an urban district in the Harrow parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, suburban to London, lying immediately outside the boundary of the county of London (boroughs of Hammersmith and Kensington). Pop. (1881) 27,453; (1901) 114,811. It has increased greatly as a residential district, mainly of the working classes. There are, moreover, considerable railway works attached to Willesden Junction, where the suburban lines of the London & North Western, North London, and Great Western railways connect with the main line of the first-named company. Remains of Norman building have been discovered in the church of St Mary, which is of various dates, and has been much enlarged in modern times. Several ancient monuments and brasses are retained. There is a Jewish cemetery in Willesden Lane. The adjoining residential districts are Harlesden on the south, Kilburn and Brondesbury on the east, Cricklewood and Neasden (with the works of the Metropolitan railway) on the north.
At Domesday the manor of Willesden and Harlesden was held by the canons of St Paul's. In the 12th century it was formed into eight distinct manors, seven of which were held by the same number of prebendaries. A shrine or image of St Mary (Our
- ↑ The law of Holland will be found set out in the case. It is in general accordance with that of France.
