246 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



they left the case to the candid 

 consideration of the Court. 



Sir John Nicholl remarked, 

 that the principles upon which 

 the case must depend had been 

 properly stated on the one side, 

 and not controverted on the other. 

 It Avas perfectly competent to par- 

 ties to prove the contents of a wiU 

 which had iaeen destroyed, whe- 

 ther the destruction had occuned 

 in the life- time of the testator or 

 afterwards, provided it had hap- 

 pened without his knowledge or 

 concurrence : where an accident 

 thus intervened, and the act of 

 God alone prevented the comple- 

 tion of a person's intentions, the 

 Court could not but be anxious to 

 supply the defect, and prevent the 

 ill consequences which would 

 otherwise accrue to innocent par- 

 ties, and, in looking to the proof 

 in such a case, must be satisfied 

 if it should amount to a reason- 

 able probability. He then stated 

 the circumstances of the case, and 

 remarked that it was clear the de- 

 ceased intended to die testate, and 

 to appoint his wife, brother, and 

 brother-in-law, his executors. — 

 The disposition he had made by 

 the will he had drawn up was ful- 

 ly evidenced by his declaration to 

 his brotlier, to whom he read it, 

 and who deposed that lie had, as 

 he was likely to have, a perfect re- 

 collection of the contents. He 

 consulted his brother, and some 

 alterations were suggested and 

 made ; but the deceased';? declara- 

 tion, that he would copy it over, 

 and then put ids namo to it, was 

 a complete and final approbation 

 of the instrument, and showed 

 that his n:in(l was made up and 

 decided with respect to it. I'here 

 was therefoie a strong presump- 



tion in favour of it, unless repell- 

 ed by evidence of his subsequent 

 conduct. Upon thai point, how- 

 ever, the evidence corroborated 

 the opinion, that he did not aban- 

 don but adhered to the will ; that 

 he completed it by his signature, 

 and then sealed it up in an en- 

 velope. It had been said that 

 theie was no direct proof that he 

 did copy it, as he said he would ; 

 but there was every reasonable 

 evidence that he did in some way 

 or other complete it. His con- 

 versation with his wife, when he 

 held up the sealed paper, and said 

 it was his will, and the only will 

 he should ever make, was conclu- 

 sive upon this point, and left no 

 reason to doubt that the paper he 

 then held up did contain the will ; 

 and the fact of its being sealed 

 showed that it had been comple- 

 ted, and was a perfect instrument. 

 His subsequent conversation with 

 his wife, a day or two before his 

 death, in which, speaking of his 

 will, he said that it was done, and 

 be should never alter it, was a 

 further confirmation of the instru- 

 ment itself, and of the fixed state 

 of the intentions which had led 

 him to make it. It had been said 

 that his declaration in the course 

 of this conveisation, that he bad 

 left his property to his wife, did 

 not confirm the contents of the 

 w ill as ]>ropounded, as it appear- 

 ed fi'oni tliem that she had only a 

 life-interest in the whole jjroperty, 

 with a power of apportioning it 

 amongst the children at her death. 

 This was, however, as near an ab- 

 solute interest as possible, and a 

 conformity, in substance at least, 

 to the deceased's declaration ; and 

 his directing the property to be 

 equally divided, in case his wife 



left 



