the intestate in equal shares, and to their descendants, in the same manner as if all such brothers and sisters had been the brothers and sisters of the intestate. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 35.

whole blood.

35. Relatives of the half blood shall inherit equally with those of Half blood to the whole blood in the same degree, and the descendants of such rela- succeed with tives shall inherit in the same manner as the descendants of the whole blood, unless the inheritance came to the intestate by descent, devise or gift from some one of his ancestors; in which case all those who are not of the blood of such ancestor shall be excluded from such inheritance. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 36.

36. On failure of heirs under the preceding rules, the inheritance In cases not shall descend to the remaining next of kin of the intestate, according provided for, 22-3 Car. II., to the rules in the English Statute of Distribution of Personal Estate. c. 10, and 29 C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 37.

37. Wherever there is but one person entitled to inherit according to the provisions of the eighteenth and following sections of this Act, he shall take and hold the inheritance solely; and wherever an inheritance, or a share of an inheritance, descends to several persons under such provisions, they shall take as tenants in common, in proportion to their respective rights. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 38.

Car. II. c. 3, to apply.

Co-heirs to take as tenants in

common.

born after death

38. Descendants and relatives of the intestate begotten before his Descendants &c., death, but born thereafter, shall in all cases inherit in the same man- of intestate, to ner as if they had been born in the lifetime of the intestate and had inherit. survived him. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 39.

sons not to

dower and

estates by deed

or will, excepted.

39. Children and relatives who are illegitimate shall not be entitled Illegitimate perto inherit under any of the provisions of this Act. C. S. U. C. c. 82, inherit. s. 40. 40. The estate of the husband as tenant by the curtesy, or by a wi- Curtesy, dow as tenant in dower, shall not be affected by any of the provisions of the last preceding twenty-two sections of this Act, nor shall the same affect any limitation of any estate by deed or will, or any estate which, although held in fee simple or for the life of another, is so held in trust for any other person, but all such estates shall remain, pass and descend, as if the last twenty-two sections of this Act numbered from eighteen to thirty-nine, both included, had not been passed. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 41.

41. If any child of an intestate has been advanced by the intestate Cases of children by settlement, or portion of real or personal estate, or both of them, who have been advanced by and the same has been so expressed by the intestate in writing, or so settlement, etc. acknowledged in writing by the child, the value thereof shall be reckoned, for the purposes of this section only, as part of the real and personal estate of such intestate descendible to his heirs, and to be distributed to his next of kin according to law; and if such advancement is equal or superior to the amount of the share which such child would be entitled to receive of the real and personal estate of the deceased, as above reckoned, then such child and his descendants shall be excluded from any share in the real and personal estate of the intestate. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 42.

ment be not

42. If such advancement is not equal to such share, such child and If such advancehis descendants shall be entitled to receive so much only of the equal. personal estate, and to inherit so much only of the real estate, as is sufficient to make all the shares of the children in such real and

Value of prohow estimated.

personal estate and advancement to be equal, as nearly as can be estimated. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 43.

43. The value of any real or personal estate so advanced shall be perty advanced, deemed to be that, if any, which has been acknowledged by the child by any instrument in writing, otherwise such value shall be estimated according to the value of the property when given. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 44.

Education, etc., not advancement.

As to the pur

the parties interested of real

44. The maintaining or educating, or the giving of money to a child, without a view to a portion or settlement in life, shall not be deemed an advancement within the meaning of this Act. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 45.

45. The parties authorized to make partition of any such estate chase by any of according to law shall receive from any of the persons entitled to a share of such real estate, an offer or proposition to purchase the share estate subject to or shares of the other parties interested therein, giving the preference partition. to the person who would have been heir-at-law thereto, had the eighteenth and following sections of this Act not been passed; and next after such heir-at-law, giving such preference to the several persons successively who would have been such heir-at-law, had the said last mentioned sections of this Act not been passed, and had those persons preceding them respectively in the series of such preference been dead at the time of the death of the intestate. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 46.

Particulars of

to be certified to the Court.

46. The parties so authorized to make such partition shall certify offer to purchase particularly to the Court in which proceedings for a partition are commenced or pending, the particulars of such offer or proposition to purchase, the nature, quantity and value of the estate or share proposed to be purchased, and whether they advise such offer or proposition to be accepted or rejected, and their reasons therefor. Ĉ. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 47.

Any Court authorized to make partition

may direct a sale,

giving prefer

ence to the heir

at-law.

Terms on which

47. Any Court authorized to make partition of real estate may direct a sale of the same if it thinks it right so to do, upon the application of any of the parties beneficially interested therein, giving however the preference at all times to the person who would have been the heir-at-law to such real estate had the eighteenth and following sections of this Act not been passed, and after such heir-at-law, then giving such preference to the several persons successively who would have been such heir-at-law, had the said last mentioned sections of this Act not been passed, and had those persons preceding them respectively in the series of such preference been dead at the time of the death of the intestate. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 48.

48. Every such preference shall be upon and subject to such terms, preference to be security and conditions as the Court thinks it right to direct. C. S. given. U. C. c. 82, s. 49.

Short title.

H'

CAP. CVI.

An Act respecting Wills.

ER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows

1. This Act shall be cited as "The Wills Act of Ontario."

WILLS BEFORE 1ST JANUARY, 1874.

2. In the three next succeeding sections of this Act numbered three "Land." to five inclusive, the word "land" shall extend to messuages, and all other hereditaments, whether corporeal or incorporeal, and to money to be laid out in the purchase of land, and to chattels and other personal property transmissible to heirs, and also to any share of the same hereditaments and properties, or any of them, and to any estate of inheritance, or estate for any life or lives, or other estate transmissible to heirs. and to any possibility, right or title of entry or action, and any other interest capable of being inherited, and whether the same estates, possibilities, rights, titles and interests, or any of them, are in possession, reversion, remainder or contingency. Č. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 14.

of a will may pass

3. Where a will made before and not re-executed, republished or Estates acquired revived after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and after the making seventy-four, by any person dying after the sixth day of March, one by the will where thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, contains a devise in any form such intention is of words of all such real estate as the testator dies seised or possessed expressed. of, or of any part or portion thereof, such will shall be valid and effectual to pass any land acquired by the devisor after the making of such will, in the same manner as if the title thereto had been acquired before the making thereof. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 11; see 36 V. c. 20, ss. 2 & 46.

4. Wherever land is devised in any such will as aforesaid, it shall be A devise of land considered that the devisor intended to devise all such estate as he was shall be taken to seised of in the same land, whether in fee simple or otherwise, unless state as the tes it appears upon the face of such will that he intended to devise only tator had in the an estate for life, or other estate less than he was seised of at the time land, unless a of making the will containing such devise. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 12; tion is expressed. see 30 V. c. 20, ss. 2 & 46.

contrary inten

the presence of

5. Any will affecting land executed after the sixth day of March, Witnesses need 1834, and before the first day of January, 1874, in the presence of and not subscribe in attested by two or more witnesses, shall have the same validity and the testator. effect as if executed in the presence of and attested by three witnesses; and it shall be sufficient if such witnesses subscribed their names in presence of each other, although their names were not subscribed in presence of the testator. C. S. U. C. c. 82, s. 13; see 36 V. c. 20, ss. 2 & 46.

woman between

6. After the fourth day of May, 1859, and before the first day of Will by married January, 1874, every married woman might, by devise or bequest exe- 4th May, 1859, cuted in the presence of two or more witnesses, neither of whom was and 1st January, her husband, make any devise or bequest of her separate property, real 1874. or personal, or of any rights therein, whether such property was acquired before or after marriage, to or among her child or children issue of any marriage, and failing there be any issue, then to her husband, or as she may see fit, in the same manner as if she were sole and unmarried. C. S. U. C. c. 73, s. 16.

WILLS AFTER 1ST JANUARY, 1874.

7. Unless herein otherwise expressly provided, the subsequent sec- Commencement tions of this Act shall not extend to any will made before the first day of operation of of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four; but every

the Act.

26, s. 34.

Imp. Act 1 V. c. will re-executed or re-published, or revived by any codicil, shall, for the purposes of the said sections, be deemed to have been made at the time at which the same was so re-executed, re-published or revived. 36 V. c. 20, s. 2.

Application of sections 20-22,

25 and 26.

Interpretation clause.

Imp. Act 1 V. c. 26, s. 1.

"Will."

8. The twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth sections of this Act shall not apply to the will of any person who was dead before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, but shall apply to the will of every person who has died since the thirty-first day of December, 1868, or who dies after the passing of this Act. 32 V. c. 8, s. 6.

9. In the construction of the sections numbered ten to thirty-eight inclusive in this Act.

(1.) "Will" shall extend to a testament, and to a codicil, and to an appointment by will, or by writing in the nature of a will in exercise of a power, and also to a disposition by will and testament, or devise, of the custody and tuition of any child, by virtue of the Act passed in the twelfth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, entitled "An 12 Car. II. c. 24. Act for taking away the Court of Wards, and liveries and tenures in capite, and by knight's service and purveyance, and for settling a revenue upon His Majesty in lieu thereof," and to other testamentary disposition;

"Real estate."

"Personal estate."

"Person." "Testator."

Mortgage."

Imp. Act 30-31

V. c. 69, s. 2.

Power to dispose of all property. Imp. Act 1 V. c. 20, s. 3.

Pur autre vie.

(2.) "Real estate" shall extend to messuages, lands, rents, and hereditaments, whether freehold or of any other tenure, and whether corporeal, incorporeal or personal, and to any undivided share thereof, and to any estate, right, or interest (other than a chattel interest) therein;

(3.) “Personal estate" shall extend to leasehold estates and other chattels real, and also to moneys, shares of government and other funds, securities for money (not being real estates), debts, choses in action, rights, credits, goods, and all other property whatsoever which by law devolves upon the executor or administrator, and to any share or interest therein;

(4.) Person" and "Testator," shall include a married woman;

(5.) "Mortgage" shall include any lien for unpaid purchase money, and any charge, incumbrance, or obligation of any nature whatever upon any lands or tenements of a testator or intestate. 36 V. c. 20, s. 4; 35 V. c. 15, s. 2.

10. Every person may devise, bequeath, or dispose of by will, executed in manner hereinafter mentioned, all real estate and personal estate which he may be entitled to, either at Law or in Equity, at the time of his death, and which, if not so devised, bequeathed, or disposed of, would devolve upon his heirs at law, or upon his executor or administrator; and the power hereby given shall extend to estates pur autre vie, whether there be or be not any special occupant thereof, and whether the same be a corporeal or incorporeal hereditament; and also to all contingent, executory, or other future interests in any real or personal estate, whether the testator be or be not ascertained as the person or one of the persons in whom the same may respectively become vested, and whether he be entitled thereto under the instrument by which the same were respectively created, or under any disposition Rights of entry. thereof by deed or will, and also to all rights of entry for conditions broken and other rights of entry, and also to such of the same estates,

Contingent interests.

the will,

interests and rights respectively, and other real and personal estate, as Property the testator may be entitled to at the time of his death, notwithstand- acquired after ing that he may become entitled to the same subsequently to the execution of his will. 36 V. c. 20, s. 5.

11. No will made by any person under the age of twenty-one years Wills by infants shall be valid. 36 V. c. 20, s. 6.

invalid.

Imp. Act 1 V.

12. No will shall be valid unless it is in writing, and executed in c. 26, s. 7. manner hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, it shall be signed at the Execution.

foot or end thereof by the testator, or by some other person in his pre- c. 26, s. 9. Imp. Act 1 V.

sence, and by his direction; and such signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, and such witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator; but no form of attes- Attestation. tation shall be necessary.

V. c. 24, s. 1.

2. Every will, so far only as regards the position of the signature of Signature. the testator, or of the person signing for him as aforesaid, shall be imp. Act 15-16 deemed to be valid, within the meaning of this Act, if the signature is so placed, at, or after, or following, or under, or beside, or opposite to the end of the will, that it is apparent on the face of the will that the testator intended to give effect by such signature to the writing signed as his will; and no such will shall be affected by the circumstance that the signature does not follow or is not immediately after the foot or end of the will, or by circumstance that a blank space intervenes between the concluding words of the will and the signature, or by the circumstance that the signature is placed among the words of the testimonium clause, or of the clause of attestation, or follows, or is after, or under the clause of attestation, either with or without a blank space intervening, or follows, or is after, or under, or beside the names of one of the names of the subscribing witnesses, or by the circumstances that the signature is on a side, or page, or other portion of the paper or papers containing the will, whereon no clause or paragraph or disposing part of the will is written above the signature, or by the circumstance that there appears to be sufficient space on or at the bottom of the preceding side or page or other portion of the same paper on which the will is written to contain the signature; and the enumeration of the above circumstances shall not restrict the generality of the above enactment; but no signature under this Act shall be operative to give effect to any disposition or direction which is underneath, or which follows it, nor shall it give effect to any disposition or direction inserted after the signature was made. 36 V. c. 20, s. 7.

be exercised.

13. No appointment made by will, in exercise of any power, shall be Appointments valid, unless the same is executed in manner herein before required; by will how to and every will executed in manner hereinbefore required shall, so far Imp. Act 1 V. as respects the execution and attestation thereof, be a valid execution c. 26, s. 19. of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding it has been expressly required that a will made in exercise of such power shall be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity. 36 V. c. 20, s. 8.

14. Any soldier being in actual military service, or any mariner or Wills of personseaman being at sea, may dispose of his personal estate as he might alty of soldiers have done before the passing of this Act. 36 V. c. 20, s. 9.

and sailors. Imp. Act 1 V.

c. 26, s. 11.