Robert of William Eyres against The Executrix of Christopher Eyres
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1792 |
| Date | 01 January 1792 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 79 E.R. 648
IN CHANCERY.
648 MICHAELMAS TERM, 2 CAR. 1. IN C. CRO. CAB. 82. case 8. egbert and william eyres against the executrix of christopher eyres. In Chancery. A testator on his sick-bed, being asked if he will give his brothers anything, says, " I will give them nothing;" this does not revoke a former will which gave them legacies. Cro. Jac. 115. 497. Cro. Eliz. 306. 1 Roll. Abr. 615. Moor, 874. Owen, 76. Godb. 33. 1 Sid. 73. 3 Com. Dig. 13. Powel on Devises, 533. Cowper, 49. 130. Dougl. 31. 39. 241. 716, 717. In a suit in Chancery this case was made and referred to the Master of the Rolls, Doderidge, Jones, and myself, Justices, and to Sir John Ward and Doctor Lee, Masters of the Chancery and Civilians. Christopher Eyres the testator, 15 Jac. 1. made his will in writing, and thereby devised legacies to charitable uses, and to the plaintiffs Robert and William Eyres, his brothers ; to the one, two hundred pounds ; and to the other, one thousand pounds; and divers other legacies to his other kindred ; and made his wife executrix, saving that he appointed his said two brothers to be conjoined with her, as executors in trust for his wife, for performance of his will. Afterwards, 22 Jac. 1. being sick, and sending for Mr. Damport, parson of the parish, and for Mr. Stone, a reader of the Temple, they came, and demanded of him, what friend he thought best to be his executor, to take care of his funeral and see his will performed 1 and, whether he trusted any person more than his wife ? He answered, that his wife was the fittest person, and therefore should be his sole executrix. Being then moved by Mr. Stone to give legacies to his father, brethren, and kindred, he answered he would not give or leave them any thing, but he bequeathed to Lionell Atwood, his godson, twenty or thirty shillings; and being thereupon requested by his wife to give him a greater legacy, he answered her, "Thou knowest riot what thou doest; do not wrong thyself; thirty shillings is money in a poor body's purse:" and for others he left them to his wife's discretion or disposition : and the testator did speak these words, or the like in effect, " animo testandi et ultimam voluntatem dedarandi." All this was set down in a codicil, and the first will and that codicil proved in communi fonnA (b). Whether this codicil were a revocation of the first will for the legacies given to his two...
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