I only know Manx wills in any detail (Manx law differed considerably from
English - see www.manxnotebook.com/famhist/genealgy/ecourt.htm) and mostly
from late 17th and 18th centuries - such wills were handled by the church
until the 1880's - they were all written in English though almost certainly
most pre 19th century would be spoken, and agreed to, in Manx; many were
obviously written post death as they actually refer to date of death though
a few were signed by the testator, there were complaints in the 1640's that
the clergy were forcing themselves as the only people capable of recording
a will and the Lord had to issue an edict allowing all to write wills for
their friends. The witnesses had to swear to the veracity in court and
sometimes one sees additional comments and second thoughts added (sometimes
one wonders if they had been nobbled as if a witness claimed not to
remember the testator cutting off his children with 6d then some child
might benefit considerably) - the handling in open court avoided some of
the transcription errors.
Intestate's goods usually need to be appraised - these were four sworn men
appointed by the parish sumner - in general their valuations are very
conservative as the records of the values received at public cant usually
exceeds their valuation.
Frances Coakley - website http://www.manxnotebook.com
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