Part 39
The personal property of any person deceased, left undisposed of by deed or will, is divisible among his widow, should he leave one, and his next of kin, in the following order:
i. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, &c. The next inheritors, in the absence of these, are,
ii. Father;--if none, mother, and brothers and sisters, and their children (but not their grandchildren);
iii. His grandfathers and grandmothers;--if none,
iv. His uncles and aunts;--if none,
v. His cousins, and great-nephews and nieces.
1586. Further Details on Intestacy.
If the Deceased leave a Widow, but no child or children, one half of his personal estate will fall to his widow, and the other half will be divisible among the next of kin. The father of an intestate without children is entitled to one half of his estate, if he leave a widow, and to the whole if he leave no widow. When the nearest of kin are the mother and the brothers and sisters, the personal estate is divisible in equal portions, one of which will belong to the mother, and one to each of the brothers and sisters; and if there be children of a deceased brother or sister, an equal portion is divisible among each family of children.
1587. Valid Wills (1).
Wills, to be Valid, can only be made by persons at or above the age of twenty-one, and in a sound state of mind at the time of making the last will and testament; not attainted of treason; nor a felon; nor an outlaw. As regards the power of married women to make wills, a married woman may make a will, disposing, as she may think fit, of all property to which she is entitled for her separate use.
1588. Valid Wills (2).
No will is valid unless it is in writing, signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction. And such signature must be made or acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses, all of whom must be present at the same time, and such witnesses must attest and subscribe the will in the presence and with the knowledge of the testator.
1589. Irrevocable.
A Will or Codicil once made cannot be altered or revoked, unless through a similar formal process to that under which it was made; or by some other writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which an original will is required to be executed; or by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator, or by some person in his presence and by his direction with the intention of revoking the same.
1590. Loses Effect.
No Will or Codicil, or any part of either, that has once been revoked by any or all of these acts, can be revived again, unless it be executed in the manner that a fresh will or codicil is required to be.
1591. Alterations.
Alterations in Wills or Codicils require the signature of the testator and of two witnesses to be made upon the margin, or upon some other part of the will, opposite or neat to the alteration.
1592. Revoked by Marriage.
Every Will is revoked by the subsequent marriage of the testator or testatrix, except a will made in the exercise of a power of appointment, when the property appointed thereby would not, in default of appointment, pass to the heir, executor, or administrator, or next of kin of the testator or testatrix.
1593. Basic Requirements.
There being no Stamp Duty, or tax, on a will itself, it should be written on plain parchment or paper. Nor is it necessary, though always advisable where means are sufficient, to employ a professional adviser to draw up and complete the execution of a will.
1594. Identifying a Illegitimate Child.
If it be intended to give a legacy to an illegitimate child, the testator must not class him with the lawful children, or designate him simply as the child of his reputed parent, whether father or mother, but must describe the child by name as the reputed child of----or ----, so as to leave no doubt of identity.
1595. Paraphernalia.
Wearing apparel, jewels, &c., belonging to a wife are considered in law her "paraphernalia;" and though liable for the husband's debts while living, cannot be willed away from her by her husband, unless he wills to her other things in lieu thereof, expressing such intention and desire in the will.
The wife may then make her choice whether she will accept the substituted gift, or remain possessed of what the law declares her entitled to.
[HALF A LOAF IS BETTER THAN NO BREAD.]
1596. Property of Different Kinds.
Where property is considerable, and of different kinds,--or even where inconsiderable, if of different kinds, and to be disposed of to married or other persons, or for the benefit of children, for charities, or trusts of any description, it is absolutely necessary and proper that a qualified legal adviser should superintend the execution of the will.
1597. Executors.
When a person has resolved upon making a will, he should select from among his friends persons of trust to become his executors, and should obtain their consent to act. And it is advisable that a duplicate copy of the will should be entrusted to the executor or executors. Or he should otherwise deposit a copy of his will, or the original will, in the office provided by the Probate Division of the High Court for the safe custody of wills.
1598. Simple Form of Will.
This is the last will and testament of J----B----, of No. 3, King's Road, Chelsea. I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to my wife, Mary B----, her heirs, executors, and administrators, for her and their own use and benefit, absolutely and for ever, all my estate and effects, both real and personal, whatsoever and wheresoever, and of what nature and quality soever; and I hereby appoint her, the said Mary B----, sole executrix of this my will. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this----day of----, one thousand eight hundred and----.
JOHN B----.
Signed by the said John B----in the presence of us, present at the same time, who, in his presence, and in the presence of each other, attest and subscribe our names as witnesses hereto.
JOHN WILLIAMS, 15, Oxford Street, Westminster.
HENRY JONES, 19, Regent Street, Westminster.
1599. Other Forms of Wills.
Other forms of wills give particular legacies to adults, or to infants, with direction for application of interest during minority; to infants, to be paid at twenty-one without interest; specific legacies of government stock; general legacies of ditto; specific legacies of leasehold property or household property; immediate or deferred annuities; to daughters or sons for life, and after them their children; legacies with directions for the application of the money; bequests to wife, with conditions as to future marriage; define the powers of trustees, provide for and direct the payment of debts, &c. All these more complicated forms of wills require the superintendence of a professional adviser.
1600. Crossing Cheques.
If cheques have two parallel lines drawn across them, with or without the addition of the words _"& Co.,"_ they will only be paid to a banker.
1601. Banker's Name across Cheque.
If, in addition, the name of any particular banker be written across the cheque, it will only be paid to that banker or his agent.
1602. Effect of Words "Not Negotiable" on Cheque.
If the words "Not Negotiable" be written across a cheque, the lawful holder of the cheque is not prevented thereby from negotiating it. The effect of these words is to prevent any person receiving a cheque so marked from acquiring a better title to it than the person had from whom he received it. If, therefore, such a cheque has been stolen, the thief cannot, by passing it away for value, vest in the person so acquiring it a good title.
1603. Repayment of Money, etc., borrowed when under Age.
An infant, or person under twenty-one years of age, is not liable to repay money borrowed by him, nor to pay for goods supplied to him, unless they be necessaries.
1604. Acceptance of Liability.
Even if a person after coming of age promise to pay debts contracted during infancy, he is not liable, whether the promise be made in writing or not.
[WILFUL WASTE MAKES WOEFUL WANT.]
1605. Limitation of Recovery of Land or Real Estate.
A person becoming entitled to any land or real estate, must bring an
## action to recover it within _twelve_ years from the time when his
right accrued, otherwise his claim will be barred by the "Statute of Limitations."
1606. Recovery of Damages by Workmen from Employer.
By the "Employers' Liability Act," 1880, a workman may recover from his employer damages for personal injuries sustained by him in the course of his employment, if the accident happen through any one of the following causes:
i. A defect in the way, works, machinery, or plant used in the employer's business, and which defect the employer negligently allows to remain unremedied.
ii. The negligence of some superintendent or overlooker in the service of the employer.
iii. The negligence of the foreman or other person in the service of the employer, whose orders or directions the workman was bound to obey and did obey.
iv. The act or omission of any person in the service of the employer done or made in obedience to the rules, bye-laws, or instructions of the employer.
v. The negligence of any person in the service of the employer who has the charge or control of any signal, points, locomotive engine, or train upon a railway.
1607. Amount Recoverable.
The largest sum which a workman can recover in any of the above cases is limited to the amount of the average earnings for _three_ years of a person in his situation.
1608. Notice to Employer.
Notice in writing of the injury must be given to the employer, or sent by registered post, giving the name and address of the person injured, the date of the accident, and stating in ordinary language the cause of the injury.
1609. Actions for Compensation to be brought in County Court.
All actions for compensation under the above Act must be brought in the County Court, and commenced within six months of the accident, or, in case the workman die and the action is brought by his representatives, then within _twelve_ months from his death.
1610. Bills of Sale.
The "Bills of Sale Act," which came into operation on November 1, 1882, effects several noteworthy changes of the utmost importance. It repeals part of the Act of 1878, which repealed the Act of 1854.
1611. What the term "Bill of Sale" includes.
The term "bill of sale" is made to include, in addition to those assignments of personal property which were within its meaning under the Act of 1854, "inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached; and receipts for purchase-moneys of goods," where the goods remain in the possession of the seller, and also an agreement to give a bill of sale.
1612. What the term "Personal Chattels" includes.
The term "personal chattels" has also a wider meaning than under the old law, as it includes fixtures and growing crops when separately assigned, and trade machinery when assigned, together with an interest in land so as to require registration.
1613. Chief Provisions of the Act.
All bills of sale made or given in consideration of any sum under £30 are void. No bill of sale executed after the Act shall be any protection to the goods comprised therein against distress for poor and other parochial rates.
1614. Instruments giving Powers of Distress.
Certain instruments giving powers of distress are also to be registered under the Act to be of any validity against the trustees in bankruptcy or execution creditors.
1615. Registration of Bill of Sale.
Every bill of sale must be registered within _seven_ days of its making, instead of within _twenty-one_ days as under the old law; and provision is made to prevent the evasion of the Act of 1878 by means of renewed bills of sale in respect of the same debt--a practice much resorted to up to the passing of that Act in order to avoid registration.
[WISE PEOPLE ARE THE MOST MODEST.]
1616. Renewal of Registration.
Registration of unsatisfied bills of sale must he renewed every _five_ years.
1617. Voidance of Bill of Sale.
A bill of sale executed within seven days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill of sale, if comprising all or part of the same chattels, and if given as a security for the same debt or any part thereof, will be absolutely void.
1618. Bills of Sale to be Executed in presence of Solicitor.
To prevent necessitous persons being inveigled by sharpers into signing bills of sale for sums in excess of advances, or in blank, as has been done in some cases, every bill of sale had to be executed in the presence of a solicitor, but under the Bills of Sale Act, 1882, this is no longer imperative, the condition only affecting bills drawn under the Act of 1878.
1619. Preserving Fruit.
The grand secret of preserving is to deprive the fruit of its water of vegetation in the shortest time possible; for which purpose the fruit ought to be gathered just at the point of proper maturity. An ingenious French writer considers fruit of all kinds as having four distinct periods of maturity--the maturity of vegetation, of honeyfication, of expectation, and of coction.
1620. The First Period.
The first period he considers to be that when, having gone through the vegetable processes up to the ripening, it appears ready to drop spontaneously. This, however, is a period which arrives sooner in the warm climate of France than in the colder orchards of England; but its absolute presence may be ascertained by the general filling out of the rind, by the bloom, by the smell, and by the facility with which it may be plucked from the branch. But even in France, as generally practised in England, this period may be hastened, either by cutting circularly through the outer rind at the foot of the branch, so as to prevent the return of the sap, or by bending the branch to a horizontal position on an espalier, which answers the same purpose.
1621. The Second Period.
The second period, or that of Honeyfication, consists in the ripeness and flavour which fruits of all kinds acquire if plucked a few days before arriving at their first maturity, and preserved under a proper degree of temperature. Apples may acquire or arrive at this second degree of maturity upon the tree, but it too often happens that the flavour of the fruit is thus lost, for fruit over-ripe is always found to have parted with a portion of its flavour.
1622. The Third Stage.
The third stage, or of Expectation, as the theorist quaintly terms it, is that which is acquired by pulpy fruits, which, though sufficiently ripe to drop off the tree, are even then hard and sour. This is the case with several kinds both of apples and pears, not to mention other fruits, which always improve after keeping in the confectionery,--but with respect to the medlar and the quince, this maturity of expectation is absolutely necessary.
1623. The Fourth Degree.
The fourth degree of maturity, or of Coction, is completely artificial, and is nothing more nor less than the change produced upon fruit by the aid of culinary heat.
1624. Maturity of Vegetation.
We have already pointed out the first object necessary in the preservation of fruit, its maturity of vegetation, and we may apply the same principle to flowers or leaves which may be gathered for use.
1625. Flowers.
The flowers ought to be gathered a day or two before the petals are ready to drop off spontaneously on the setting of the fruit: and the leaves must he plucked before the season has begun to rob them of their vegetable juices. The degree of heat necessary for the purpose of drying must next be considered, as it differs considerably with respect to different substances.
1626. Degrees of Heat Required.
Flowers or aromatic plants require the smallest increase of heat beyond the temperature of the season, provided that season be genial: something more for rinds or roots, and a greater heat for fruits; but this heat must not be carried to excess.
[FOOLS HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF VANITY.]
1627. Proportions of Heat.
Philosophic confectioners may avail themselves of the thermometer; but practice forms the best guide in this case, and therefore we shall say, without speaking of degrees of Fahrenheit or Réaumur, that if the necessary heat for flowers is one, that for rinds and roots must be one and a quarter, that for fruits one and three quarters, or nearly double of what one may be above the freezing point.
1628. Hints about making Preserves.
It is not generally known that boiling fruit a long time, and _skimming it well, without sugar_, and _without a cover_ to the preserving pan, is a very economical and excellent way--economical, because the bulk of the scum rises from the _fruit_, and not from the _sugar_; but the latter should be good. Boiling it without a _cover_ allows the evaporation of all the watery particles therefrom, and renders the preserves firm and well flavoured. The proportions are, three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Jam made in this way of currants, strawberries, raspberries, or gooseberries, is excellent. The sugar should be added after the skimming is completed.
1629. To make a Syrup.
Dissolve one pound of sugar in about a gill of water, boil for a few minutes, skimming it till quite clear. To every two pounds of sugar add the white of one egg well beaten. Boil very quickly, and skim carefully while boiling.
1630. Covering for Preserves.
White paper cut to a suitable size, dipped in brandy, and put over the preserves when cold, and then a double paper tied over the top. All preserves should stand a night before they are covered. Instead of brandy, the white of eggs may be used to glaze the paper covering, and the paper may be pasted round the edge of the pot instead of tied--it will exclude the air better.
1631. To Bottle Fruits.
Let the fruit to be preserved be quite dry, and without blemish. Take a bottle that is perfectly clean and dry within, and put in the fruit in layers, sprinkling sugar between each layer, put in the bung, and tie bladder over, setting the bottles, bung downwards, in a large stewpan of cold water, with hay between to prevent breaking. When the skin is just cracking, take them out. All preserves require exclusion from the air. Place a piece of paper dipped in sweet oil over the top of the fruit; prepare thin paper, immersed in gum-water, and while wet, press it over and around the top of the jar; as it dries, it will become quite firm and tight.
1632. Keeping Apples.
Apples for keeping should be laid out on a _dry_ floor for three weeks. They may then be packed away in layers, with dry straw between them. Each apple should be rubbed with a dry cloth as it is put away. They should be kept in a cool place, but should be sufficiently covered with straw to protect them from frost. They should be plucked on a dry day.
1633. Dried Apples.
Dried apples are produced by taking fine apples of good quality, and placing them in a very slow oven for several hours. Take them out occasionally, rub and press them flat. Continue until they are done. If they look dry, rub over them a little clarified sugar.
1634. Preserved Rhubarb.
Peel one pound of the finest rhubarb, and cut it into pieces of two inches in length; add three quarters of a pound of white sugar, and the rind and juice of one lemon--the rind to be cut into narrow strips. Put all into a preserving kettle, and simmer gently until the rhubarb is quite soft; take it out carefully with a silver spoon, and put it into jars; then boil the syrup a sufficient time to make it keep well,--say one hour,--and pour it over the fruit. When cold, put a paper soaked in brandy over it, and tie the jars down with a bladder to exclude the air. This preserve should be made in the spring.
[WALK SWIFTLY FROM TEMPTATION, OR IT MAY OVERTAKE YOU.]
1635. Dry Apricots.
Gather before ripe, scald in a jar put into boiling water, pare and stone them; put into a syrup of half their weight of sugar, in the proportion of half a pint of water to two pounds of sugar; scald, and then boil until they are clear. Stand for two days in the syrup, then put into a thin candy, and scald them in it. Keep two days longer in the candy, heating them each day, and then lay them on glasses to dry.
1636. Preserved Peaches.
Wipe and pick the fruit, and have ready a quarter of the weight of fine sugar in powder. Put the fruit into an ice-pot that shuts very close; throw the sugar over it, and then cover the fruit with brandy. Between the top and cover of the pot put a double piece of grey paper. Set the pot in a saucepan of water till the brandy is as hot as you can bear to put your finger into, but do not let it boil. Put the fruit into a jar, and pour on the brandy. Cover in same manner as preserves.
1637. Brandy Peaches.
Drop them into a weak boiling lye, until the skin can be wiped off. Make a thin syrup to cover them, boil until they are soft to the finger-nail; make a rich syrup, and add, after they come from the fire, and while hot, the same quantity of brandy as syrup. The fruit must be covered.
1638. Preserved Plums (1).
Cut your plums in half (they must not be quite ripe), and take out the stones. Weigh the plums, and allow a pound of loaf sugar to a pound of fruit. Crack the stones, take out the kernels, and break them in pieces. Boil the plurns and kernels very slowly for about fifteen minutes, in as little water as possible. Then spread them on a large dish to cool, and strain the liquor. Next day add your syrup, and boil for fifteen minutes. Put into jars, pour the juice over when warm, and tie up with bladder when cold, with paper dipped in brandy over the preserve.
1639. Preserved Plums (2).
Another Way.--Plums for common use are very good done in treacle. Put your plums into an earthen vessel that holds a gallon, having first slit each plum with a knife. To three quarts of plums put a pint of treacle. Cover them over, and set them on hot coals in the chimney corner. Let them stew for twelve hours or more, occasionally stirring, and next day put them up in jars. Done in this manner, they will keep till the next spring.
1640. To Preserve Lemons, Whole, for Dessert.