and the law of the partes rationabiles in regard to succession in personal estate.

By subsequent statutes, particularly by that of the 27th of Henry VIII. (b), these local customs were done away, in so far as regarded the law of inheritance in real estate, which was made conformable to the common English rules of descent; but the law of succession in personal estate remained unaltered by statute till a later period. At last, however, the statute of the 7th & 8th of William III. (c) gave the power to the inhabitants of the principality to dispose of their whole personal estate by will. The act is in these terms:

Whereas in several counties and places, within the principality of Wales and marches thereof, the widows and younger children of persons dying inhabitants therein have often claimed and pretended to be entitled to a part of the goods and chattels of their late husbands or fathers, called her and their reasonable part, by virtue or colour of a custom or other usage within the said principality and marches thereof, notwithstanding any disposition of the same by their husbands and fathers' last wills and testaments, or by deed in their lives-time, and notwithstanding a competent jointure, according to the agreement made for the livelihood of the said widows by their husbands, which have often occasioned great troubles, disputes, and expences about and concerning such custom and usage, whereby many persons have been and are disabled from making sufficient provision for their families, younger children, and relations; and great disputes, troubles, and expences have often happened concerning the same, to the great damage or ruin of many; for remedy thereof be it enacted, that from and after the 24th day of June 1696, it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons inhabiting or residing, or who shall have

(b) 27 Hen. 8. c. 26.

(c) 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 38.

any goods or chattels within the principality of Wales or marches thereof, by their last wills and tcstaments, to give, bequeath, and dispose of all and singular their goods, chattels, debts, and other personal estate, to their executor or executors, or to such other person or persons as the said testator or testators shall think fit, in as large and ample manner as by the laws and statutes of this realm any person or persons may give and dispose of the same within any part of the province of Canterbury or elsewhere; and that from and after the said 24th dayof June 1696, the widows, children, and other the kindred of such testator or testators, shall be barred to claim or demand any part of the goods, chattels, or other personal estate of such testator or testators, in any other manner than as by the said last wills and testaments is limited and appointed; any law, statute, custom, or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding. (Sect. 1.)

Provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall extend to take away any right or title which any woman now married, or younger children now born, may have to the reasonable part of their husband's or father's estate, by virtue or colour of the said custom or usage. (Sect. 2.)

It is not distinctly known what particular grievance gave rise to this statute. The custom does not appear to have been fixed and clear, as in the cases of the province of York and city of London; this appears from the language of the preamble of the statute. It appears to have passed without much discussion, while Sir John Somers was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England. The proviso at the end of the act, saving the rights of wives or children then existing, is worthy of observation; it was added to the bill in the Committee of the House of Lords. (d) In this respect it differs from several of the other acts which have

(d) Lords' Journals, 8th April 1696.

been passed in England, regulating the law of succession

in personal estate.

SECT. II.

Changes on the Custom of the Province of York.

THE ancient limits of the province of York, over which the custom extends, comprehend the counties of York, Nottingham, Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, and part of the county of Lancaster, a great extent of country, with a vast population, and an immense mass of property. (e)

Soon after the first statute of distributions was passed, some doubts arose as to its meaning and intention, in regard to the reservation contained in it of the custom of the province of York. The administrator in that district appears to have contended, that, according to the ancient law or custom, he was entitled to retain that portion of the estate to which he had administered, and which was not subject to partition (viz. the dead's part), without distribution; and the same doubt arose as to the custom of the city of London. This was remedied by a clause in the before-mentioned act of the 1st of James II. (f), by which the law is thus declared: -For the determining some doubts arising upon the said statute, it is hereby enacted and declared, that the clause therein, by which it is provided that that act, or any thing therein contained, should not any ways prejudice or hinder the customs observed within the city of London and province of York, was never intended, nor shall be taken or construed to extend to such part of any

(e) I take this from an anonymous writer in the Scots Law Chronicle, vol. i. p. 328. I have not observed the limits of the custom laid down in any book of authority.

(f) 1 Jac. 2. c. 17. s. 8.

intestate's estate as any administrator, by virtue only of being administrator, by pretence or reason of any custom, may claim to have to exempt the same from distribution, but that such part in the hands of such administrator shall be subject to distribution, as in other cases within the said act.

But the great and important alteration upon the custom of the province of York, was that by which the inhabitants of that province were enabled to give and dispose of their whole personal estate, by their last wills and testaments, in as ample a manner as any persons could do within the province of Canterbury or elsewhere. This was effected, as to all parts of the province except the city of York, by an act of the 4th of William III. (g), in these terms: —

Whereas by custom within the province of York, or other usage, the widows and younger children of persons dying inhabitants of that province, are entitled to a part of the goods and chattels of their late husbands and fathers (called her and their reasonable part), notwithstanding any disposition of the same by their husbands' and fathers' last wills and testaments, and notwithstanding any jointures made for the livelihood of the said widows by their husbands in their lifetime, which are competent, and according to agreement, whereby many persons are disabled from making sufficient provision for their younger children; for remedy whereof be it enacted, that from and after the 26th day of March 1693, it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons, inhabiting or residing, or who shall have any goods or chattels within the province of York, by their last wills and testaments to

(g) 4 Will. 3. c. 2. This act was prior in date to that already noticed, in regard to the principality of Wales. It does not appear that it excited much attention at the time; it is not noticed in the parliamentary history. It was brought into the House of Commons by Sir Christopher Musgrave, on the 5th of December 1692; and, after going through the usual stages, was read a third time, in the House of Lords, on the 7th of January 1692-3.

give, bequeath, and dispose of all and singular their goods, chattels, debts, and other personal estate, to their executor or executors, or to such other person or persons as the said testator or testators shall think fit, in as large and ample manner as by the laws and statutes of this realm any person or persons may give and dispose of the same within the province of Canterbury or elsewhere; and that from and after the said 26th day of March 1693 the widows, children, and other the kindred of such testator or testators shall be barred to claim or demand any part of the goods, chattels, or other personal estate of such testator or testators, in any other manner than as by the said last wills and testaments is limited and appointed; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding. (Sect. 1. & 2.)

Provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the citizens of the cities of York and Chester, who are or shall be freemen of the said respective cities, inhabiting therein, or within the suburbs thereof, at the time of their death, but that every such citizen's widow and children shall and may have and enjoy such reasonable part and proportion of the testator's personal estate, as she or they might or ought to have had, by the custom of the province of York, before the making of this act. (Sect. 3.)

From some of the expressions used in the first section of this statute, by which it is enacted, that " it shall be lawful "for any person or persons inhabiting or residing, or who "shall have any goods or chattels within the province of "York, by their last wills and testaments to give, bequeath, "and dispose of all and singular their goods, chattels, "debts, and other personal estate," there is reason to suppose that the framers of the statute considered that the lex loci rei sita was of some importance in questions in regard to the custom. (h)

(h) See the speech of the Master of the Rolls in the case of Somerville v. Somerville, infra.