that the witnesses upon such reference shall be examined upon oath, it shall be lawful for the arbitrator or umpire, or any one arbitrator, and he or they are hereby authorized and required to administer an oath to such witnesses, or to take their affirmation in cases where affirmation is allowed by law instead of oath; and if upon such oath or affirmation any person making the same shall wilfully and corruptly give any false evidence, every person so offending shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of perjury, and shall be prosecuted and punished accordingly.

XLII. And whereas it would be convenient if the power of the superior courts of common law and equity at Westminster to grant commissions for taking affidavits to be used in the said courts respectively should be extended; be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Lord High Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Lords Commissioners of the great seal, the said courts of law, and the several judges of the same, shall have such and the same powers for granting commissions for taking and receiving affidavits in Scotland and Ireland, to be used and read in the said courts respectively, as they now have in all and every the shires and counties within the kingdom of England, and dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the Isle of Man, by virtue of the statutes now in force; and that all and every person and persons wilfully swearing or affirming falsely in any affidavit to be made before any person or persons who shall be so empowered to take affidavits under the authority aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and shall incur and be liable to the same pains and penalties as if such person had wilfully sworn or affirmed falsely in the open court in which such affidavit shall be intitled, and be liable to be prosecuted for such perjury in any court of competent jurisdiction in that part of the United Kingdom in which such offence shall have been committed, or in that part of the United Kingdom in which such person shall be apprehended on such a charge.

XLIII. And whereas the observance of holidays in the said courts of common law during term time, and in the offices belonging to the same, on the several days on which holidays are now kept, is very inconvenient, and tends to delay in the administration of justice; be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That none of the several days mentioned in the statute passed in the sessions of parliament holden in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, intituled “An Act for keeping holidays and fasting days," shall be observed or kept in the said courts, or in the several offices belonging thereto, except Sundays, the day of the nativity of our Lord, and the three following days, and Monday and Tuesday in Easter week.

XLIV. And be it further enacted, That this statute shall commence and take effect on the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

XLV. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall extend to that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, or that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland, except in the cases herein-before speeially mentioned.

No. IX.

1 VICT. CAP. XXVI.

An Act for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Wills.

[3rd July, 1837.]

BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the

advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the words and expressions hereinafter mentioned, which in their ordinary signification have a more confined or a different meaning, shall in this act, except where the nature of the provision or the context of the act shall exclude such construction, be interpreted as follows; (that is to say), the word "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 an act passed in the twelfth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled "An Act for taking away the court of wards and liveries, and tenures in capite and by knights service, and purveyance, and for settling a revenue upon his Majesty in lieu thereof," or by virtue of an act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled "An Act for taking away the court of wards and liveries, and tenures in capite and by knights service," and to any other testamentary disposition; and the words "real estate" shall extend to manors, advowsons, messuages, lands, tithes, rents, and hereditaments, whether freehold, customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, 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; and the words "personal estate" shall extend to leasehold estates and other chattels real, and also to monies, 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; and every word importing the singular number only shall extend and be applied to several persons or things as well as one person or thing; and every word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male.

II. And be it further enacted, That an act passed in the thirty-second year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, intituled "The Act of wills, wards, and primer seisins, whereby a man may devise two parts of his land;" and also an act passed in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth years of the reign of the said King Henry the Eighth, intituled "The Bill concerning the explanation of wills;" and also an act passed in the parliament of Ireland, in the tenth year of the reign of King Charles the First, intituled "An act how lands, tenements, etc. may be disposed by will or otherwise, and concerning wards and primer seisins;" and also so much of an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled " An Act for prevention of frauds and perjuries," and of an act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the seventh year of the reign of King William the Third, intituled "An Act for prevention of frauds and perjuries," as relates to devises or bequests of lands or tenements, or to the revocation or alteration of any devise in writing of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any clause thereof, or to the devise of any estate pur autre vie, or to any such estate being assets, or to nuncupative wills, or to the repeal, altering, or changing of any will in writing concerning any goods or chattels or personal estate, or any clause, devise, or bequest therein; and also so much of an act passed in the fourth and fifth years of the reign of Queen Anne, intituled" An Act for the amendment of the law and the better advancement of justice, and of an act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, intituled "An Act for the amendment of the law and the better advancement

of justice," as relates to witnesses to nuncupative wills; and also so much of an act passed in the fourteenth year of the reign of King George the Second, intituled "An Act to amend the law concerning common recoveries, and to explain and amend an act made in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled 'An Act for prevention of frauds and perjuries'" as relates to estates pur autre vie; and also an act passed in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King George the Second, intituled "An Act for avoiding and putting an end to certain doubts and questions relating to the attestation of wills and codicils concerning real estates in that part of Great Britain called England, and in his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America," except so far as relates to his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America; and also an act passed in the parliament of Ireland in the same twenty-fifth year of the reign of King George the Second, intituled "An Act for the avoiding and putting an end to certain doubts and questions relating to the attestations of wills and codicils concerning real estates;" and also an act passed in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of King George the Third, intituled "An Act to remove certain difficulties in the disposition of copyhold estates by will," shall be, and the same are hereby repealed, except so far as the same acts or any of them respectively relate to any wills or estates pur autre vie to which this act does not extend.

III. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for every person to devise, bequeath, or dispose of, by his will executed in manner hereinafter required, all real estate and all personal estate which he shall 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 the heir at law, or customary heir of him, or, if he became entitled by descent, of his ancestor, or upon his executor or administrator; and that the power hereby given shall extend to all real estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant right, or customary or copyhold, notwithstanding that the testator may not have surrendered the same to the use of his will, or notwithstanding that, being entitled as heir, devisee, or otherwise, to be admitted thereto, he shall not have been admitted thereto, or notwithstanding that the same, in consequence of the want of a custom to devise or surrender to the use of a will or otherwise, could not at law have been disposed of by will if this act had not been made, or notwithstanding that the same, in consequence of there being a custom that a will or a surrender to the use of a will should continue in force for a limited time only, or any other special custom, could not have been disposed of by will according to the power contained in this act, if this act had not been made; and also to estates pur autre vie, whether there shall or shall not be any special occupant thereof, and whether the same shall be freehold, customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, or of any other tenure, and whether the same shall be a corporeal or an incorporeal hereditament; and also to all contingent, executory, or other future interests in any real or personal estate, whether the testator may or may not be ascertained as the person or one of the persons in whom the same respectively may become vested, and whether he may be entitled thereto under the instrument by which the same respectively were created, or under any disposition 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, interests, and rights respectively, and other real and personal estate, as the testator may be entitled to at the time of his death, notwithstanding that he may becom entitled to the same subsequently to the execution of his will.

IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That where any real

estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant right, or customary or copyhold, might, by the custom of the manor of which the same is holden, have been surrendered to the use of a will, and the testator shall not have surrendered the same to the use of his will, no person entitled or claiming to be entitled thereto by virtue of such will shall be entitled to be admitted, except upon payment of all such stamp duties, fees, and sums of money as would have been lawfully due and payable in respect of the surrendering of such real estate to the use of the will, or in respect of presenting, registering, or enrolling such surrender, if the same real estate had been surrendered to the use of the will of such testator: Provided also, that where the testator was entitled to have been admitted to such real estate, and might, if he had been admitted thereto, have surrendered the same to the use of his will, and shall not have been admitted thereto, no person entitled or claiming to be entitled to such real estate in consequence of such will shall be entitled to be admitted to the same real estate by virtue thereof, except on payment of all such stamp duties, fees, fine, and sums of money as would have been lawfully due and payable in respect of the admittance of such testator to such real estate, and also of all such stamp duties, fees, and sums of money as would have been lawfully due and payable in respect of surrendering such real estate to the use of the will, or of presenting, registering, or enrolling such surrender, had the testator been duly admitted to such real estate, and afterwards surrendered the same to the use of his will; all which stamp duties, fees, fine, or sums of money due as aforesaid, shall be paid in addition to the stamp duties, fees, fine, or sums of money due or payable on the admittance of such person so entitled or claiming to be entitled to the same real estate as aforesaid.

V. And be it further enacted, That when any real estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant right, or customary or copyhold, shall be disposed of by will, the lord of the manor or reputed manor of which such real estate is holden, or his steward, or the deputy of such steward, shall cause the will by which such disposition shall be made, or so much thereof as shall contain the disposition of such real estate, to be entered on the court rolls of such manor or reputed manor; and when any trusts are declared by the will of such real estate, it shall not be necessary to enter the declaration of such trusts, but it shall be sufficient to state in the entry on the court rolls that such real estate is subject to the trusts declared by such will; and when any such real estate could not have been disposed of by will if this act had not been made, the same fine, heriot, dues, duties, and services shall be paid and rendered by the devisee as would have been due from the customary heir in case of the descent of the same real estate, and the lord shall as against the devisee of such estate have the same remedy for recovering and enforcing such fine, heriot, dues, duties, and services, as he is now entitled to for recovering and enforcing the same from or against the customary heir in case of a descent.

VI. And be it further enacted, That if no disposition by will shall be made of any estate pur autre vie of a freehold nature, the same shall be chargeable in the hands of the heir, if it shall come to him by reason of special occupancy, as assets by descent, as in the case of freehold land in fee simple; and in case there shall be no special occupant of any estate pur autre vie, whether freehold or customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, or of any other tenure, and whether a corporeal or incorporeal hereditament, it shall go to the executor or administrator of the party that had the estate thereof by virtue of the grant; and if the same

shall come to the executor or administrator either by reason of a special occupancy or by virtue of this act, it shall be assets in his hands, and shall go and be applied and distributed in the same manner as the personal estate of the testator or intestate.

VII. And be it further enacted, That no will made by any person under the age of twenty-one years shall be valid.

VIII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That no will made by any married woman shall be valid, except such a will as might have been made by a married woman before the passing of this act.

IX. And be it further enacted, That no will shall be valid unless it shall be in writing and executed in manner herein-after mentioned; (that is to say,) it shall be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator, or by some other person in his presence 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 attestation shall be necessary.

X. And be it further enacted, That no appointment made by will, in exercise of any power, shall be valid, unless the same be executed in manner herein-before required; and every will executed in manner hereinbefore required shall, so far as respects the execution and attestation thereof, be a valid execution of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding it shall have been expressly required that a will made in exercise of such power should be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity.

XI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That any soldier being in actual military service, or any mariner or seaman being at sea, may dispose of his personal estate as he might have done before the making of this act.

XII. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not prejudice or affect any of the provisions contained in an act passed in the eleventh year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Fourth and the first year of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to amend and consolidate the laws relating to the pay of the royal navy," respecting the wills of petty officers and seamen in the royal navy, and non-commissioned officers of the marines, and marines, so far as relates to their wages, pay, prize money, bounty money, and allowances, or other monies payable in respect of services in her Majesty's

navy.

XIII. And be it further enacted, That every will executed in manner herein-before required shall be valid without any other publication thereof.

XIV. And be it further enacted, That if any person who shall attest the execution of a will shall at the time of the execution thereof, or at any time afterwards, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution thereof, such will shall not on that account be invalid.

XV. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall attest the execution of any will to whom or to whose wife or husband any beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift, or appointment, of or affecting any real or personal estate (other than and except charges and directions for the payment of any debt or debts), shall be thereby given or made, such devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift, or appointment shall, so far only as concerns such person attesting the execution of such will, or the wife or husband of such person, or any person claiming under such person or wife or husband, be utterly null and void, and such person so attesting shall