----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Izbicki <[log in to unmask]>
To: john lock <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: deathbed declarations
> On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, john lock wrote:
>
> > Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 16:47:41 +0100
> > From: john lock <[log in to unmask]>
> > Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
> > To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: deathbed declarations
> >
> > I have come across a number of english legal cases from the
> > mid-16th century where great store was set by what the 'ultime
voluntate' of
> > the deceased had been. Though in these cases its incontrovertability
was
> > probably more to do with its irrevocability. These statements were
> > occasionally cited in an attempt to overturn earlier written wills.
> > Equally, many times people tried to have
> > last-gasp legacies revoked because the deceased had been utterly
> > speechless or mad and out of his wits. I have come across them in the
> > equity courts, but am no great expert on whether they appear in common
law
> > cases. And of course such cases only arise when matters are in dispute
and
> > the stakes are high enough...
>
> John,
> I do not have time to check this, but my memory is that ecclesiastical
> courts handled testaments to Tudor times, and that common law had no
> place for them. The equity courts would have taken up cases over wills,
> as the Admiralty jurisdiction (based on Roman law) took up divorce cases.
> Tom Izbicki
>
I never cease to be surprised by what turns up where in the legal records,
nor the way in which cases were bounced from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,
nor yet the judgements! In the Common Pleas I can think of cases of
(written) wills being cited as supporting evidence but matters verbal would
have had difficulty. I can't think of one but that doesn't mean
there weren't any. Nuncupative wills?
.
John A.W. Lock
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