SHOULD THE PRIVILEGE OF MAKING WILLS BE RESTRICTED. i3 



TWENTY-FOURTH MEETING. 



Twenty-fourth Meeting, 2ist April, 1888, the President in 

 the chair. 



Donations and exchanges since last meeting, 45. 



Herbert C. Jones was elected a member. 



Mr. George Martin Rae read a paper on " Should the Privi- 

 ledge of Making Wills be Restricted ? " 



Mr. R-ie pointed out that the law relating to wills was constantly 

 undergoing modification. That originally a man had only power to 

 bequeath one-third of his personalty, the other two-thirds devolving 

 on his wife and children respectively ; that even yet the wife had the 

 right to elect whether to take the provision by will or not in the 

 case of real estate. That marriage revoked a will but imposed no 

 relative duties as to any disposition of the married pei'son's estate, and 

 suggested that the absolute power to bequeath should be to some 

 ■extent restricted in favor of husband, wife, parents and children, as 

 had been done in 1859, when married women were permitted to 

 make wills. He suggested that the right of sick and aged persons to 

 make wills was of doubtful value ; believed that the true intention 

 of the testator often failed to be expressed, and that the jDrecautions 

 required by law only extended to the signature of the document, not 

 to the knowledge of the contents. That at present the sick and 

 feeble were exposed to the risk of persecution. He suggested that it 

 was a proper subject for scientific enquiry whether the disposing 

 mind existed in the majority of such cases, which his ex]ierience led 

 him to doubt 



Mr. Horatio Hale, of Clinton, read a paper on " The 

 Developement of Language." 



In answer to a question from Dr. McCurd)' relative to the 

 origin of inflections, Mr. Hale said that he had already in part 

 answered it, mankind have never invented inflections. We 

 have no authority for any inflections having been invented. 



