ENGLISH WILLS

      I thought some persons who have English wills in their
documents might find these notes helpful. 
 
      "Testator" means the man who is making the will; a woman is
called a "testatrix".  For the sake of simplicity I will refer to
a testator only.  
 
      The testator may say at the outset that he is sick in body
but "of sound disposing mind and memory". This was said to ensure
his will could not be attacked. Such an attack might be made by
someone left out on the grounds of that a beneficiary had subjected
the testator to undue influence and had been given too much.
Another common basis for attack sought to argue that testamentary
capacity was lacking in that the testator was so sick he forgot
someone who normally would have expected to be included.  
 
      You will see a there is almost always no punctuation. English
wills are still drawn in this way today. The reason is to avoid
ambiguity. Where a new sentence can be expected the wills usually
read AND in place of a period.  
 
     There used to be an important distinction in English law
between the words "bequeath" and "devise". "Bequeath" applies only
to "personal property" (which is everything other than an interest
in land), whereas "devise" applies only to "real property", which
is an interest in land (including buildings), and mortgages.
Because a mortgage is a conveyance of land subject to a right of
redemption, it was an interest in land and could be passed only by
a devise. A lease, however, even if it was for 99 years, did not
involve a conveyance and was a personal contract. As a result it
was properly only the subject of a bequest. 
  
      As a result of this distinction a general "catch-all" clause
is usually expressed as "I give devise and bequeath" because
"bequeath" would not be effective to convey land, and "devise"
would not be effective for personalty. All these distinctions have
been abolished by statute in England. However, the attestation
clauses (reciting the witnesses) are still in use.