COURT OF APPEAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 66, 20 March 1935, Page 7

COURT OF APPEAL

A WANGANUI CASE INTERPRETATION OF A WILL [ P*r Press MuociaUo*. 1 WELLINGTON, March 19. A case before the Court of Appeal to-day is based on the interpretation of the will of John Macleay, farmer, Wanganui, made in September, 1891. The testator died in 1895, and in 1913 plaintiffs, William James Treadwell and George Stannard Gordon, solicitors, became trustees of the estate. The will bequeathed real estate to the trustees upon trust to pay in equal shares all rents and profits to Alexander Macleay brother of the testator, and to John Leed Macleay, nephew of the testator, upon the death of one the whole to be paid to the survivor and then, 21 years after this survivor had died, the whole of the real estate to go to the heir at law of such survivor. John Leed Macleay survived Alexander Macleay and is survived by eight children, the eldest son of the first marriage, lan Alasdair Macleay, is defendant. The questions for the Court to decide are: (1) Who is the heir at law of John Leed Macleay? (2) Should the trustees execute a conveyance of the estate to the heir at law at once or at the expiration of 21 years from the death of the survivor, John Leed Macleay?