WILLS OR The Law of Succession After Death. CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS AND DIVISIONS. Sec. 921. *MEANING OF THE SUBJECT OF WILLS.-The subject of wills, or law of succession after death, is a topic which shows in its history and development the gradual rise of mankind from a condition of poverty and ignorance wherein man had neither personal or real property to the present state of affluence in all that pertains to supply the wants and luxuries of human existence. It also marks in its development the ascendency of the higher man-like traits of virtue and honesty and respect of law over the wild and brutish disposition of the savage, or man in the state of nature. With the acquisition of property came custom and then law governing its holding during the life, and distribution at the death of the owner. What is more natural among reasoning beings than that the owner of property which he has acquired *This book is Vol. 7 of The Cyclopedia of Law, the former 920 sections comprise the first six books of the series. should dispose of it as he wills at the time of his death? And yet we shall see that it was not always the rule or custom that a man might dispose of his property at or before his death as he saw fit. Long ages had to elapse before the right of an individual to dispose of his property had been firmly established, and many more years of development had to take place before the salutary systems of law came to be established which provide a fair and equitable distribution of the property of a deceased person when he has failed to make a will. In all developed civilizations two systems regulating the disposition of a deceased person's property have come to prevail; the first, allowing the owner to name the person or persons who shall succeed to his estate, the second providing for a designation by law of those who shall succeed to the estate of a person who has made no will. Sec. 922. GENERAL DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT.-In all of the States of the Union there are laws substantially uniform providing for the disposition by ante mortem declaration of the property both real and personal of the owner. And in the absence of such a disposition by the owner, the State laws provide with great minuteness for the disposition of his property in accordance with the highest theory of justice and equity. When the disposition is made by the owner it is termed a "Will," or taking by the will of the testator. When the disposition is made by law it is known as a transmission of title by descent and distribution; and the statutes providing for such distribution in the absence of a will are usually designated statutes of "descent and distribution." One is the will which the party makes for himself; the other is the will which the law makes for him where he has failed to make one for himself. These two systems suggest the natural division of our subject into: 1. The law of wills. 2. The law of descent and distribution, the whole subject falling within the general title of "The law of succession after death." Sec. 923. LAW OF WILLS-DIVISIONS.— The law of wills may be appropriately treated under the following heads: 1. Definitions. 2. The origin and history of wills. 3. What property may be disposed of by wills. 4. Who may make a will. 5. Who may take by will. 6. The formalities required in making and revoking wills. 7. The construction and effect of wills.* Sec. 924. DEFINITIONS.-A "Will," or "Last Will and Testament," is a solemn disposition of one's property in the form prescribed by law, and which, though made while living, does not take effect until the death of the maker.† *The divisions of our subject are borrowed from those of Professor Floyd R. Mechem, under whom the author had the pleasure of receiving much valuable training, while a student in the Law Department of the University of Michigan. “A will is an instrument by which a person makes a disposition of his property, to take effect after his decease, and |