STRANGE WILLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

STRANGE WILLS.

LAWYERS' PROBLEMS. f When Sir John Swale died it. was found that his will contained tho clause: "I do bequeath unto the said Matthew Slradling all my black and white horses." At first sight this appears to be very simple, but.it was found that Sir John had.owed six black horses, six white horses, and six pied horses. The question now arises how the-clause should be interpreted. '• ' Accordingly the suit' of Stradling versus Stiles was entered into, • turning around the point as ;to whether Stradling.,was entitled ,to the ; pied ; horses. The plaintiff's counsel argued"! as" Z follows: Black and white are the extremes'of t colours, .land therefore include, all / other colours.';/;', The plaintiff was entitled to the. : black horses, as the case was covered "fby".. the • word' "black.";,. He'; was entitled to the six white horses, fas' they wire given by the word "white." ; At the same time he was entitled to the six pied 1^ horses, as* they were givefi -to liim -by ; the "words, " black and white." ft;;-'-.''*- '-•,'•'; ' \ *~/ ' i'C The counsel fori the'defendant, however, /said that this reasoning was absurd, as it would '> have entitled •; the' plaintiff ■ to all- horses of every colour/red or bay, for example. He argued that a. pied horso was neither,black nor white, and therefore the bequest could not have . applied to those six horses, as they would not come under the -definition ."black and white horses." '. l : .' ; ' It will be seen -what, a- .difficult task was ; left to/ the Court, ': but after a considerable amount of ; deliberation ,it dei cided ! eventuallv in favour of. the plaintiff. • Accordingly, judgment was '.; given for 'who apparently i had won the day. v Immediately, however, there came another' difficulty which defied the. cleverest men. '• ', ~•' • ;,.''.- T-- • I''-'-' It was shown that the animals wore mares,, and so the much-perplexed court U»'d' to ' have all , the business • over > again. There were more arguments/ more cogitations and-consultations of authorities, out, alas, ,/without/ any result... /Perhaps,tho reader may have, more-success than the. lawyers <in solving this puzzle, / for so far as. they are concerned it has not been settled to ; this day. \ : "'•■, :, , •' Another ? remarkable point ' arose over the ; famous ' will of. Peter Thellusson. He was an enormously wealthy man, but decided to leave such a fortune as had never been approached by any other individual in history. ' He directed that there should be no division of his estate during the lives of his children and grandchildren, but that all tho profits should be allowed to accumulate, being laid out in landed estates. ' Such a will had never been mado by any other individual, and it was estimated that even if a division took place in the shortest possible time, tho estatewould amount to considerably over £27,000,000 sterling, while in 75 years' time the income would amount to a sum approaching £2,000,000 a year. The family contested the validity of the will, the case being carried to the House of Lords, where it was _ Upheld, however, although it was recognised that such a power was dangerous to the State. In fact, a special Act of Parliament was passed, by which it is now impossible for any individual to allow such accumulations in the future, the time now being limited to 25 years. The point of interest in connection with the present article, however, is that which arose on the death of the last grandson. This was whether the accumulated fortune should go to the eldest great-grandson or to the grandson of tho eldest son. This case was carried through to the highest court in the land, the final decision being that the latter should inherit. , , An interesting fact is that this fortunate individual- did not inherit anything approaching the estimated sum of £27,182,000. The actual sum which reached -him was tlio for move moderate one of £600,000; the lawyers and tho Court of Chancery took the balance!