Wills, and How Net to Make Them. By B. D.
West. (Longmans.) —" If the plain truth were told," writes Mr. West in his intro- duction, "it would be acknowledged that more misery and injustice have been worked by wills than by the series of wars the country has waged, since the modern system of will-making came into use." Many cases of undoubted hardship, many instances of folly, are brought together in this volume. Some- times the writer makes too much of a point. We do not see, for instance, why the god-daughters of one testator were the worse off for having .e5,000 on their wedding-days. On the whole, a woman is happier for being married, even though she has from "eight to a dozen children." What is the remedy for the folly or malignity of testators ? One thing that our author proposes is that the Probate Court should take into consideration not the last will only, but all. We doubt, however, whether this chapter is quite serious. The best thing is for the law to distribute the main portion of the estate. The case of illegitimate children
ought, however, to be considered. At present, both they and the community (which may have to support them) suffer a hardship.
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