Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/394

 378 jury before whom uch will hall be conteted. And in a much later cae the tetimony of three witnees, who were creditors, was held to be ufficiently credible, though the land was charged with the payment of debts; and the reaons of the former determination were adjudged to be inufficient.

inconvenience was found to attend this new method of conveyance by devie; in that creditors by bond and other pecialties, which affected the heir provided he had aets by decent, were now defrauded of their ecurities, not having the ame remedy againt the deviee of their debtor. To obviate which, the tatute 3 & 4 W. & M. c. 14. hath provided, that all wills, and tetaments, limitations, dipoitions, and appointments of real etates, by tenants in fee-imple or having power to dipoe by will, hall (as againt uch creditors only) be deemed to be fraudulent and void: and that uch creditors may maintain their actions jointly againt both the heir and the deviee.

of lands, made by the permiion and under the controll of thee tatutes, is conidered by the courts of law not o much in the nature of a tetament, as of a conveyance declaring the ues to which the land hall be ubject: with this difference, that in other conveyances the actual ubcription of the witnees is not required by law, though it is prudent for them o to do, in order to ait their memory when living and to upply their evidence when dead; but in deviees of lands uch ubcription is now abolutely neceary by tatute, in order to identify a conveyance, which in it's nature can never be et up till after the death of the devior. And upon this notion, that a devie affecting lands is merely a pecies of conveyance, is founded this ditinction between uch devies and tetaments of peronal chattels; that the latter will operate upon whatever the tetator dies poeed of, the former only upon uch real etates as were his at the time of executing and publihing his will. Wherefore no Rh