58^i 



ANNUAL REGJSTEIl, 1814. 



house to manage the deceased's 

 farming concerns, with a salary of 

 40/. per annum, only on account 

 of the deceased's good opinion of 

 his skill in those matters ; th;U the 

 blow he gave the deceased was 

 given under the impulse of irrita- 

 tion, as having been struck by 

 him, but the matter was amicably 

 adjusted next day : that the de- 

 ceased continued of sound mind, 

 managing his affairs, and drawing 

 drafts on his bankers, until the 

 12th of July, 1810, and even 

 wished Miss Fox to go with him 

 the day the will was executed, but 

 excused her solely on acccountofill 

 health ; and that the transaction 

 at Lord Northwick's was the effect 

 of intoxication, and not of insanity, 

 the deceased having that day 

 drank very freely upon an empty 

 stomach, but the next day having 

 recovered, he spoke of the cir- 

 cumstances as a good joke only. 



A great mass of evidence was 

 adduced in proof of these different 

 representations of the case on either 

 side, and the arguments of counsel 

 heard at great length thereon, 

 during three days, it being con- 

 tended on the one hand, that 

 there was no proof of undue in- 

 fluence or control over the de- 

 ceased, but that the will was the 

 spontaneous act of a capable tes- 

 tator ; and, on the other hand, 

 that not only was an undue con- 

 trol proved, but also actual and 

 positive incapacity, for a period 

 long antecedent and subsequent to 

 the making of the will, as well 

 as at the very time. 



Sir John NichoU recapitulated 

 the circumstances of the case. He 

 was of opinion, that the acts of ex- 

 travagance committed by the de- 

 ceased, coupled with what hap- 



pened on the very day of the 

 will, and the verdict of the jury 

 upon the inquisition, left no doubt 

 of the deceased's having been af- 

 flicted with insanity. Where there 

 was prima facie, no proof of this, 

 the |)resumption of law was al- 

 ways in favour of the testament- 

 ary act in question ; but when it 

 was otherwise, the onus probandi 

 was thrown upon the party setting 

 up the act ; and the question, 

 therefore, in the present case was, 

 whether the papers in question 

 were executed by the deceased 

 during a lucid interval. He then 

 entered into an examination of 

 the doctrine of lucid intervals, as 

 laid down by Lord Thurlow, de- 

 fining it to be that positive proof 

 must be shown of the disorder 

 having been wholly thrown oft" 

 for the time: there must be a 

 complete lucid interval applying 

 to the particular act in question, 

 for if there was but a single word 

 " sounding the folly," it was con- 

 clusive against the presumption 

 of a lucid interval suflicient for 

 legal purposes. Corroborative cir- 

 cumstances, however, such as 

 whether the act was a natural 

 disposition, or in favour of persons 

 exercising an undue control, might 

 considerably influence the inquiry, 

 as they were material to shew the 

 probability of the act being the 

 spontaneous exertion of the de- 

 ceased's mind ; and the present 

 case was, therefore, to be examin- 

 ed upon these principles. He then 

 entered into the private history of 

 the deceased and Miss Fox, re- 

 marking particularly upon her fa- 

 ther's conduct in using such vio- 

 lence towards a poor paralytic old 

 man like the deceased; and ob- 

 serving that, with all the Court's 



