refusing vs. failing

Although the words 'refusing to comply,' may, in general, have the same operation in law as the words 'failing to comply' would have; yet, in this case, they are accompanied and explained by other words, which show that the word 'refusing' was used in a sense which might leave the estate in the devisee... Where the condition to be performed depends on the will of the devisee, his failure to perform it is equivalent to a refusal. But where the condition does not depend on his will, but on the will of those over whom he can have no control, there is a manifest distinction between 'refusing,' and 'failing' to comply with it. The first is an act of the will, the second may be an act of inevitable necessity.