exercise of a power of appointment, when the real or personal estate 7 Will. 4 & thereby appointed would not in default of such appointment pass 1 Vict. c. 26. to his or her heir, customary heir, executor, or administrator, or the person entitled as his or her next of kin, under the Statute of Distributions).

XIX. And be it further enacted, that no will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in

circumstances.

XX. And be it further enacted, that no will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed in manner herein before required, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which a will is hereinbefore required to be executed, or by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator, or by some person in his presence and by his direction, with the intention of revoking the same.

No will to be revoked by presumption.

In what cases wills may be revoked.

in a will shall have any effect unless

executed as

a will.

XXI. And be it further enacted, that no obliteration, interlineation, No alteration or other alteration made in any will after the execution thereof shall be valid or have any effect, except so far as the words or effect of the will before such alteration shall not be apparent, unless such alteration shall be executed in like manner as hereinbefore is required for the execution of the will; but the will, with such alteration as part thereof, shall be deemed to be duly executed if the signature of the testator and the subscription of the witnesses be made in the margin or in some part of the will opposite or near to such alteration, or at the foot or end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to such alteration, and written at the end or some other part of the will.

XXII. And be it further enacted, that no will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived other wise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in manner herein before required, and showing an intention to revive the same; and when any will or codicil which shall be partly revoked, and afterwards wholly revoked, shall be revived, such revival shall not extend to so much thereof as shall have been revoked before the revocation of the whole thereof, unless an intention to the contrary shall be shown.

XXIII. And be it further enacted, that no conveyance or other act made or done subsequently to the execution of a will of or relating to any real or personal estate therein comprised, except an act by which such will shall be revoked as aforesaid, shall prevent the operation of the will with respect to such estate or interest in such real or personal estate as the testator shall have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death.

How revoked

will shall be

revived.

When a devise not to be

rendered in

operative, &c.

7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 26.

A will to speak from the death of the testator. What a residuary devise shall include.

What a general devise shall include.

What a general gift shall include.

How a devise

of limitation

shall be construed.

XXIV. And be it further enacted, that every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

XXV. And be it further enacted, that, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, such real estate or interest therein as shall be comprised or intended to be comprised in any devise in such will contained, which shall fail or be void by reason of the death of the devisee in the lifetime of the testator, or by reason of such devise being contrary to law, or otherwise incapable of taking effect, shall be included in the residuary devise (if any) contained in such will.

XXVI. And be it further enacted, that a devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a customary, copyhold, or leasehold estate if the testator had no freeeold estate which could be described by it, shall be construed to include the customary, copyhold, and leasehold estates of the testator, or his customary, copyhold, and leasehold estates, or any of them, to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

XXVII. And be it further enacted, that a general devise of the real estate of the testator, or of the real estate of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise described in a general manner, shall be construed to include any real estate, or any real estate to which such description shall extend (as the case may be), which he may have power to appoint in any manner he may think proper, and shall operate as an execution of such power, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will; and in like manner a bequest of the personal estate of the testator, or any bequest of personal property described in a general manner, shall be construed to include any personal estate, or any personal estate to which such description shall extend (as the case may be), which he may have power to appoint in any manner he may think proper, and shall operate as an execution of such power, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

XXVIII. And be it further enacted, that where any real estate without words shall be devised to any person without any words of limitation, such devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple, or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

How the

words “die

without issue" or

"die without leaving issue" strued.

shall be con

XXIX. And be it further enacted, that in any devise or bequest of 7 Will. 4 & real or personal estate the words "die without issue," or "die without 1 Vict. c. 26. leaving issue," or "have no issue," or any other words which may import either a want or a failure of issue of any person in his lifetime or at the time of his death, or an indefinite failure of his issue, shall be construed to mean a want or failure of issue in the lifetime, or at the time of the death of such person, and not an indefinite failure of his issue, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, by reason of such person having a prior estate tail, or of a preceding gift, being (without any implication arising from such words) a limitation of an estate tail to such person or issue, or otherwise: Provided, that this Act shall not extend to cases where such words as aforesaid import if no issue described in a preceding gift shall be born, or if there shall be no issue who shall live to attain the age or otherwise answer the description required for obtaining a vested estate by a preceding gift to such issue.

trustees or executors,

shall

pass

XXX. And be it further enacted, that where any real estate (other No devise to than or not being a presentation to a church) shall be devised to any trustee or executor, such devise shall be construed to pass the fee except, &c., simple or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a definite term of interest. years, absolute or determinable, or an estate of freehold, shall thereby be given to him expressly or by implication.

a chattel

under an unlimited devise, &c., to

take the fee.

XXXI. And be it further enacted, that where any real estate shall Trustees be devised to a trustee, without any express limitation of the estate to be taken by such trustee, and the beneficial interest in such real estate, or in the surplus rents and profits thereof, shall not be given to any person for life, or such beneficial interest shall be given to any person for life, but the purposes of the trust may continue beyond the life of such person, such devise shall be construed to vest in such trustee the fee simple, or other the whole legal estate which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, and not an estate determinable when the purposes of the trust shall be satisfied.

XXXII. And be it further enacted, that where any person to whom any real estate shall be devised for an estate tail or an estate in quasi entail shall die in the lifetime of the testator leaving issue who would be inheritable under such entail, and any such issue shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

XXXIII. And be it further enacted, that where any person being a child or other issue of the testator to whom any real or personal estate shall be devised or bequeathed for any estate or interest not

Devises of es

tate tail shall not lapse.

Gifts to chil

issue who

dren or other

leave issue

7 Will. 4 & determinable at or before the death of such person shall die in the lifetime 1 Vict. c. 26. of the testator leaving issue, and any such issue of such person shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise or bequest shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.

living at the testator's death shall

not lapse.

To what wills and estates

this Act shall not extend.

Not to
Scotland.

XXXIV. And be it further enacted, that this Act shall not extend to any will made before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and that every will re-executed or republished, or revived by any codicil, shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have been made at the time at which the same shall be so re-executed, republished, or revived; and that this Act shall not extend to any estate pur autre vie of any person who shall die before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.

XXXV. And be it further enacted, that this Act shall not extend to Scotland.

15 & 16 Vict. c. 24.

1 Vict. c. 26.

When sig

nature to a will shall be

THE WILLS ACT AMENDMENT ACT, 1852.

[15 & 16 VICT. C. 24.]

I. Where by an Act passed in the first year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled An Act for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Wills, it is enacted, that no will shall be valid unless it shall be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator, or deemed valid. by some other person in his presence, and by his direction: every will shall, so far only as regards the position of the signature of the testator, or of the person signing for him as aforesaid, be deemed to be valid within the said enactment, as explained by this Act, if the signature shall be so placed at or after, or following, or under, or beside, or opposite to the end of the will, that it shall be apparent on the face of the will that the testator intended to give effect by such his signature to the writing signed as his will, and that no such will shall be affected by the circumstance that the signature shall not follow or be immediately after the foot or end of the will, or by the circumstance that a blank space shall intervene between the concluding word of the will and the signature, or by the circumstance that the signature shall be placed among the words of the testimonium clause or of the clause of attestation, or shall follow or be after or under the clause of attestation, either with or without a blank space intervening, or shall follow or be after, or under, or beside the names or one of the names of the subscribing witnesses, or by the circumstance that the

signature shall be 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 shall be written above the signature, or by the circumstance that there shall appear 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 the said Act or 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 shall be made.

II. The provisions of this Act shall extend and be applied to every will already made, where administration or probate has not already been granted or ordered by a Court of competent jurisdiction in consequence of the defective execution of such will, or where the property, not being within the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts, has not been possessed or enjoyed by some person or persons claiming to be entitled thereto, in consequence of the defective execution of such will, or the right thereto shall not have been decided to be in some other person or persons than the persons claiming under the will, by a Court of competent jurisdiction, in consequence of the defective execution of such will.

15 & 16

Vict. c. 24.

Act to extend wills already

to certain

made.

tion of

"will."

III. The word "will" shall, in the construction of this Act, be Interpretainterpreted in like manner as the same is directed to be interpreted under the provisions in this behalf contained in the said Act of the first year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria.

STATUTES OF DISTRIBUTION.

[22 & 23 CAR. 2, c. 10.]

Section 5. All ordinaries and every other person who by this Act is enabled to make distribution of the surplusage of the estate of any person dying intestate, shall distribute the whole surplusage of such estate or estates in manner and form following, that is to say, one third part of the said surplusage to the wife of the intestate, and all the residue by equal portions to and amongst the children of such persons dying intestate, and such persons as legally represent such children, in case any of such children be then dead, other than such child or children (not being heir at law) who shall have any estate by the settlement of the intestate or shall be advanced by the intestate in his

22 & 23 Car. 2, c. 10.