Will
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
1.
The formal instrument by which a person may make disposal of his property, to take effect at his death. See Testament; also BurriU, for any distinction between " will " and " testament." A will is an instrument by which a person makes a disposition of his property, to take effect after his decease, and which is, in its own nature, ambulatory and revocable during his life. It is this ambulatory quality which forms the characteristic of wills; for, though a disposition by deed may postpone the possession or enjoyment, or even the vesting, until the death of the disposing party, yet the postponement is in such case produced by the express terms, and does not result from the nature of the instrument. Mc Daniel i-.
Johns, 45 Miss. 632. " Will," as used in Gen. Sts. ch.
92, § 8, — providing that wills made out of the state which might be proved and allowed in the state where made, may be proved and allowed in Massachusetts, — includes nuncupative wills.
Slocomb v. Slocomb, 13 Allen, 38. 2.
The power of the mind which disary condition of gfuilt, ia, generally, that the will ot the accused should have concurred in his act. Willingly and wittingly cannot be deemed words conveying the same idea. The one relates to the will, and means " freely," or " voluntarily; " while the other relates to the wit or understanding, and means " knowingly," or " designedly." An indictment under a statute punishing an act when done wittingly, which alleges that the accused did it willingly, is bad.
Harrington V. State, 54 Miss. 490.
Wills act. In England,!.
The Stat. 32 Hen. Vni. ch.
1, passed in 1540, by which persons seised in fee-simple of lands holden in socage tenure were enabled to devise the same at their will and pleasure, except to bodies corporate; and those who held estates by the tenure of chivalry were enabled to devise two-third parts thereof.
2. The Stat. 7 Wm. IV. & 1 Vict. ch.
26, passed in 1837, and also called Lord Langdale's act. This act permits of the disposition by will of every kind of interest in real and personal estate, and provides that all wills, whether of real or of personal estate, shall be attested by two witnesses, and that such attestation shall be sufficient. Other important alterations are effected by this statute in the law of wills. Mozley i-W.