CREDITOR ATTESTING WITNESS. 16. And be it further enacted, That in case by any will any real or Creditor attestpersonal estate shall be charged with any debt or debts, and any mitted a witing to be adcreditor, or the wife or husband of any creditor, whose debt is so ness. charged, shall attest the execution of such will, such creditor, notwithstanding such charge, shall be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof. EXECUTOR ATTESTING WITNESS. ness. 17. And be it further enacted, That no person shall, on account of Executor to be his being an executor of a will, be incompetent to be admitted a witness admitted a witto prove the execution of such will, or a witness to prove the validity or invalidity thereof, REVOCATION BY MARRIAGE. 18. And be it further enacted, That every will made by a man or woman shall be revoked by his or her marriage (except a will made in exercise of a power of appointment, when the real or personal estate thereby appointed would not in default of such appointment pass to his or her heir, customary heir, executor, or administrator, or the person entitled as his or her next of kin, under the Statute of Distributions). REVOCATION BY PRESUMPTION. 19. And be it further enacted, That no will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances. Will to be re voked by mar- No will to be revoked by presumption. REVOCATION BY SUBSEQUENT WILL OR CODICIL, OR DESTRUCTION 20. And be it further enacted, That no will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed in manner hereinbefore required, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which a will is hereinbefore required to be executed, or by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator, or by some person in his presence and by his direction, with the intention of revoking the same. No will to be revoked but by another will or codicil, or by a writing executed like a will, or by destruc tion. No alteration in a will shall have any effect, unless executed as a will. OBLITERATIONS AND INTERLINEATIONS. 21. And be it further enacted, That no obliteration, interlineation, or other alteration made in any will after the execution thereof shall be valid, or have any effect, except so far as the words or effect of the will before such alteration shall not be apparent, unless such alteration shall be executed in like manner as herein before is required for the execution of the will; but the will, with such alteration as part thereof, shall be deemed to be duly executed if the signature of the testator and the subscription of the witnesses be made in the margin or on some other part of the will opposite or near to such alteration, or at the foot or end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to such alteration, and written at the end or some other part of the will. No will revoked to be revived otherwise than by re-execution or a codicil to revive it. REVIVAL OF REVOKED WILL. 22. And be it further enacted, That no will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in manner hereinbefore required, and shewing an intention to revive the same; and when any will or codicil which shall be partly revoked, and afterwards wholly revoked, shall be revived, such revival shall not extend to so much thereof as shall have been revoked before the revocation of the whole thereof, unless an intention to the contrary shall be shewn. A devise not to be rendered inoperative by any subsequent conveyance or act. REVOCATION-SUBSEQUENT CONVEYANCE. 23. And be it further enacted, That no conveyance or other act made or done subsequently to the execution of a will of or relating to any real or personal estate therein comprised, except an act by which such will shall be revoked as aforesaid, shall prevent the operation of the will with respect to such estate or interest in such real or personal estate as the testator shall have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death. A will shall be construed to speak from the death of the testator. WILL SPEAKS, FROM WHAT PERIOD. 24. And be it further enacted, That every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. vise shall in- 25. And be it further enacted, That, unless a contrary intention A residuary de- devises. GENERAL DEVISE-COPYHOLDS, LEASEHOLDS. 26. And be it further enacted, That a devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a customary, copyhold, or leasehold estate if the testator had no freehold estate which could be described by it, shall be construed to include the customary, copyhold, and leasehold estates of the testator or his customary, copyhold, and leasehold estates, or any of them, to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. A general de vise of the tes tator's lands shall include well as freehold lands. GENERAL DEVISE-APPOINTMENT. which the tes- 27. And be it further enacted, That a general devise of the real A general gift A devise without any words of limitation shall be con strued to pass the fee. FEE-SIMPLE WITHOUT WORDS OF LIMITATION. 28. And be it further enacted, That where any real estate shall be devised to any person without any words of limitation, such devise shall be construed to pass the fee-simple, or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. The words "die without issue," or "die issue," shall be construed to mean die with out issue living at the death. WORDS IMPORTING FAILURE OF ISSUE. 29. And be it further enacted, That in any devise or bequest of real or personal estate the words "die without issue," or "die without without leaving leaving issue," or "have no issue," or any other words which may import either a want or failure of issue of any person in his lifetime or at the time of his death, or an indefinite failure of his issue, shall be construed to mean a want or failure of issue in the lifetime or at the time of the death of such person, and not an indefinite failure of his issue, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, by reason of such person having a prior estate tail, or of a preceding gift, being, without any implication arising from such words, a limitation of an estate tail to such person or issue, or otherwise: Provided, that this act shall not extend to cases where such words as aforesaid import if no issue described in a preceding gift shall be born, or if there shall be no issue who shall live to attain the age or otherwise answer the description required for obtaining a vested estate by a preceding gift to such issue. Exceptions. No devise to trustees or ex- ESTATE OF TRUSTEES. 30. And be it further enacted, That where any real estate (other than or not being a presentation to a church) shall be devised to any trustee or executor, such devise shall be construed to pass the feesimple or other the whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, unless a definite term chattel interest. of years, absolute or determinable, or an estate of freehold, shall thereby be given to him expressly or by implication. Trustees under an unlimited devise, where the trust may 31. And be it further enacted, That where any real estate shall be devised to a trustee, without any express limitation of the estate to be taken by such trustee, and the beneficial interest in such real endure beyond estate, or in the surplus rents and profits thereof, shall not be given to any person for life, or such beneficial interest shall be given to any person for life, but the purposes of the trust may continue be the life of a person bene Ce Masons Will 344.) the for yond the life of such person, such devise shall be construed to vest in such trustee the fee-simple, or other the whole legal estate which the testator had power to dispose of by will in such real estate, and not an estate determinable when the purposes of the trust shall be satisfied. ficially entitled for life, to take the fee. LAPSE OF ESTATE TAIL. 32. And be it further enacted, That where any person to whom any real estate shall be devised for an estate tail or an estate in quasi entail shall die in the lifetime of the testator leaving issue who would be inheritable under such entail, and any such issue shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. LAPSE CHILDREN OR ISSUE DYING IN TESTATOR'S LIFETIME. Devises of estates tail shall not lapse. Gifts to childissue who leave issue living at ren or other testator's death shall not lapse. 33. And be it further enacted, That where any person being a child or other issue of the testator to whom any real or personal estate shall be devised or bequeathed for any estate or interest not determinable at or before the death of such person shall die in the lifetime of the testator leaving issue, and any such issue of such person shall be living at the time of the death of the testator, such devise or bequest shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death (1 of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will. WHEN ACT OPERATES. 34. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not extend to any will made before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and that every will re-executed or republished, or revived by any codicil, shall for the purposes of this act be deemed to have been made at the time at which the same shall be so re-executed, republished, or revived; and that this act shall not extend any estate pur autre vie of any person who shall die before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight. to SCOTLAND. 35. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not extend to Act not to Scotland. extend to |