ON THE LAW OF WILLS EMBRACING EXECUTION, INTERPRETATION AND ADMINISTRATION INCLUDING THOSE RULES OF REAL PROPERTY AND PRINCIPLES PENDIX CONTAINING FORMS AND PRECE- DENTS, AND THE LEADING WILLS ACTS. BY JOHN E. ALEXANDER, OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAR. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOLUME ONE. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. BENDER-MOSS CO. The object of this work is to give a statement of the underlying principles governing the law of wills, noting the various changes which have taken place, and bringing the subject down to date. Although in the past there have been great expositions of the law of wills, it is because the law has been and is ever changing that the author deems a further work, containing the latest developments, will be of value to the profession. The power of testamentary disposition is not a fundamental right, but depends upon statute, the rules of intestate succession being the more natural. The development of the power of testamentary disposition was largely halted by feudalism, with its demand of military service and right of primogeniture. The doctrine of uses and the Statute of Uses left their impress. Then the Statute of Wills, and the statute which followed and explained it, enacted during the reign of Henry VIII; the Statute of Frauds, which dates from the time of Charles II, and the Statute of Wills passed in the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria, among other enactments stand out as landmarks. In the United States we follow the common law of England. Our statutes relative to wills may be traced back to the laws of England, with such modifications as have appealed to the minds of the various legislatures. The law of wills is a matter of development; the rules of today are the outgrowth of the rules of the past, modified by changed conditions. But in many instances we must hark back to the very early decisions, as for instance the Supreme Court of California very recently divided as to the meaning |