Solemn Form

In English law. Probate may be granted either in solemn form or in common form. Probate in solemn form is only employed when there is or is likely to be a dispute as to the validity of the will, and in such a case the person who wishes its validity to be established commences an action against the person who disputes it. The action proceeds as to pleadings, trial, etc., in the same way as an ordinary action. If the plaintiff makes out his case, the court pronounces for the validity of the will, and the executor may then take probate of it as if it had not been disputed. Coote, Prob. Prac. 250, 308. As a general rule, probate in solemn form is conclusive on all who are parties to the proceedings, or cognizant of them. Browne, Prob. Prac. 101. Probate in common form is that "form which is slight and summary for ordinary and undisputed cases."

An action to prove a will in solemn form, or per testes f is heard in England before the probate division of the by the executor, but may be by $ legatee or devisee. 3 Steph. Com. 62.

There are two kinds of probate; namely, probate in common form, and probate in solemn form. Probate in common form is granted in the registry, without any formal procedure in court, upon an ex parte application made by the executor. Probate in solemn form is in the natiu:e of a final decree pronounced in open court, all parties interested having been duly cited. The difference between the effect of probate in common form and probate in solemn form is, that probate iu common form is revocable, whereas probate in solemn form is irrevocable, as against all persons who have been cited to see the proceedings, or who can be proved to have been privy to those proceedings, except in the case where a will of subsequent date is discovered, in which case probate of an earlier will, though granted in solemn form, would be revoked. Coote Prob. Pr. (5th ed.) 237-239.