The Court of Appeal on Friday week delivered a judgment
of some importance to that numerous class of persons who are idiotic enough to draw their own wills. The late Rev. Sir E. R. Jodrell bequeathed various legacies to cousins, some of whom were illegitimate, and left the residue of his property to be divided among " such of my relatives hereinbefore named For the current year, taxation to the extent of £121,000 has • as by virtue of the trusts and provisions hereinbefore con- been remitted. The estimates for 1890 are :— 'tained shall become entitled to a vested transmissible interest in any part of my property." When the will came into opera-
... 9,500,000 tion, only one relative, Mr. Hayne, remained who was legiti- mate, and he claimed the whole property. Mr. Justice Stirling awarded it to him, on the old principle of law that a relative must be a legitimate relative ; but the Court of Appeal upset that decision, the Lords Justices holding that the will itself was the dictionary of reference, that the testator obviously considered the illegitimate cousins his relatives, and that his intention must be carried out. It follows that a natural son may inherit if his father intended him to do so, even if he is described in the will only as a " son." That seems sense, but we fancy the decision must have given a pang to many old lawyers who, like Mr. Justice Stirling, hold that an illegitimate person can by no possibility be a relative to any human being not descended from himself.
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