Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/610

Rh 574 W I L W I L intromission. Originally confirmation of testaments of movables fell, as in England, under the cognizance of the church courts. Such jurisdiction certainly existed at the time of regiam majestatcm. This ecclesiastical right continued through the Commissary Court at Edinburgh (constituted by Queen Mary in 1563) and the local commissaries until modern times, when the jurisdiction of these courts was at first transferred and then abolished by a series of en actments from 4 Geo. IV. c. 97 to the Sheriff Courts Act, 1876. The Act of George IV. placed the commissary jurisdiction in the sheriff courts ; by the Act of 1876 the sheriffs sit as sheriffs in testamentary matters, no longer as commissaries. Confirmation of wills where the whole estate is under 300 is regulated by 44 Viet, c. 12 and other Acts. An eik is an addition to a confirmation made on discovery of additional effects of the deceased after con firmation. By the common law doctrine of passive representation the heir or executor was liable to be sued for implement of the de ceased s obligations. The Roman principle of beneficium invcntarii was first introduced by an Act of 1695. As the law at present stands, the heir or executor is liable only to the value of the suc cession, except where there has been vitious intromission in mov ables, and in gestio pro kerede and some other cases in heritabl.es. The present inventory duty on succession to movables depends upon 44 Viet. c. 12. In England the executor is bound to pay the debts of the deceased in a certain order ; in Scotland they all rank pari passu, except privileged debts. 1 (See PRIVILEGE.) The will of a summons is the conclusion of a writ containing the will of the sovereign or judge, charging the executive officer to cite the party whose attendance is required. It is regulated by several Acts, e.g., 1 and 2 Viet. c. 114, 31 and 32 Viet. c. 100. (See SUM MONS, WARRANT, WRIT.) United United States. By the constitutions of many States laws giving States, effect to informal or invalid wills are forbidden. The age of testa mentary capacity varies very much. Eighteen is a common one. Full liberty of disposition is not universal. Homesteads generally, and dower estates frequently, are not devisable. In some States only a disposable portion of the property can be left, so that child ren cannot be disinherited without good cause, and in some children omitted in a will may still take their share. It is fre quently provided that a certain amount must be left to the widow. Louisiana follows French law, by which the testator can under no circumstances alienate by will more than half his property if he leave issue or ascendants. In some States a married woman may not leave more than half her property away from her husband. Some require the husband s consent and subscription to make the will of a married woman valid. Nuncupative and holograph wills are in use. The former are confined to personalty and must gener ally be reduced to writing within a short time after the words are spoken. In Louisiana there is a special form of will, borrowed from Roman law, called the mystic or sealed will, in which the testator declares a sealed packet to be his will before witnesses. The number of witnesses necessary for the validity of a will of any kind is usually two, sometimes three. Wills of soldiers and sailors are privileged, as in England. Probate is granted sometimes by the ordinary chancery or common law courts, more frequently by courts of special jurisdiction, such as the Prerogative Court in New Jersey, the Surrogate s Court in New York. 2 Inter- International Law. There are three main directions which the national opinion of jurists and the practice of courts have taken. (1) The law. whole property of the testator may be subjected to the law of his domicil. To this effect is the opinion of Savigny and the German practice. (2) The property may be subjected to the law of the place where it happens to be at the time of the testator s death. (3) The movable property may be subjected to the law of the domicil, the immovable to the law of the place where it is situate, the lex loci rei sitse. England and the United States follow this rule. Testamentary capacity is generally governed by the law of the testator s domicil, the form of the instrument in most countries either by the law of his domicil or the law of the place where the will was made, at his option. The old rule of English law was to allow the former alternative only. The law was altered for the United Kingdom in 1861 by Lord Kingsdown s Act (24 and 25 Viet. c. 114), by which a will made out of the United Kingdom by a British subject is, as far as regards personal estate, good if made according to the forms required by the law of the place where it was made, or by the law of the testator s domicil at the time of making it, or by the law of the place of his domicil of origin. Sub sequent change of domicil does not avoid such a will. Another Act passed on the same day (24 and 25 Viet. c. 121) enacted that by convention with any foreign Government foreign domicil could not be acquired by a testator without a year s residence and a written declaration of intention to become domiciled. In the United States some States have adopted the narrow policy of enact ing by statute the old common law rule, and providing that no will 1 See M Laren, Wills and Succession. Styles of wills will be found both in that work and in Juridical Styles. &quot; See Stimsou, American Statute Law, 2600-2844. is valid unless made in the form required by the law of the State of the testator s domicil. The construction of a will is governed by the law of the domicil of the testator, as he must be supposed to have used language in consonance with that law, unless indeed he express himself in technical language of another country. The persons who are to take under a will are decided by different rules according as the property is movable or immovable, the former being governed by the law of the domicil, the latter by the lex loci rei sitse. It was held recently by the Court of Appeal in England that, under the will of an Englishman domiciled in Holland, leaving personal property to children, children legitimated per subsequent matrimonium could take, as they were legitimate by the law of Holland, though not by the law of England. 3 Such children could not, however, have succeeded simply under that designation to real property in England devised by the will. A will duly executed abroad is generally required to be clothed with the authority of a court of the country where any property affected by the will is situate. As far as regards the different kingdoms composing the United Kingdom, 21 and 22 Viet. c. 56 enables an English or Irish probate, or a Scotch confirmation, to be sealed as of course in the proper court of one of the other kingdoms. (J. Wt.) WILLENHALL, a township of Staffordshire, England, in the parish of Wolverhampton, is situated on a branch of the Birmingham Canal and on the Midland and the London and North Western Railways, 3 miles east of Wolverhampton, 12 north-west of Birmingham, and 124 north-west of London. The township includes seven ham lets. The church of St Giles, originally erected in 1350, was rebuilt in 1867 in the Decorated style. There are three other churches in connexion with the Established Church, all of modern origin, and a Roman Catholic church. Willenhall possesses a literary institute, a free library, and a higher grade board school, erected in 1883. The water works became in 1868 the property of the Wolverhampton corporation. Willenhall is situated in the neighbourhood of extensive coal and iron mines, and possesses brass and iron foundries, and manufactories of various kinds of iron ware, including door locks and padlocks, ironmongery for doors and gates, ferules, files, gridirons, steel traps, screws, and currycombs. There are also varnishing works and maltings. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 1368 acres) was 15,902 in 1871 and 16,067 in 1881. The village began to be of importance in the reign of Elizabeth, when the coal and iron were first wrought. WILLESDEN, a suburb and parish of London, about 4 miles north-west from Hyde Park Corner, is situated on a number of railway lines affording very convenient access to the City. It consists of a number of houses grouped round the parish church of St Mary, Queenstown, a district inhabited chiefly by the working classes ; Willesden Green and the outlying hamlets of Brondesbury, Harlesden, Neasdon, Dollis Hill, Stroud Green, and Stonebridge Park are now largely occupied by villas. The church of St Mary, dating probably from the early part of the 14th century, contains some remains of Early English, with a Perpendicular chancel and tower. It was enlarged in 1851 and again in 1872. At Queenstown there are a working- men s institute, a workmen s hall, and a Good Templars orphanage. In Willesden Lane there is a Jewish cemetery. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 4383 acres) was 15,869 in 1871 and 27,453 in 1881. At Domesday the manor of Willesden and Harlesden was held by the canons of St Paul s. In the 12th century it was formed into eight distinct manors, seven of which are held by the same number of prebendaries. The district is associated with the exploits of Jack Sheppard. WILLIAM I. (1027 or 1028-1087), king of England, surnamed the CONQUEROR, was born in 1027 or 1028. He was the bastard son of Robert, duke of Normandy, and Herleva, daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise. When he was about seven years old his father, intending to go on pilgrimage and having no legitimate sons, proposed him as his heir. The great men of the duchy did homage to the child, and a year later (1035) his father s death left &quot;Re Goodman s Trusts,&quot; Law Rep., 17 Chancery Div., 266.