The Statute of Wills (32 Hen. 8, c. 1 – enacted in 1540) was an
Act of the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...
. It made it possible, for the first time in post-Conquest
English history
England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BBC News. Retrieved 7 February ...
, for landholders to determine who would inherit their land upon their death by permitting
devise by
will. Prior to the enactment of this statute, land could be passed by descent only if and when the landholder had competent living relatives who survived him, and it was subject to the rules of
primogeniture. When a landholder died without any living relatives, his land would
escheat
Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...
to
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
. The statute was something of a political compromise between
Henry VIII and English landowners, who were growing increasingly frustrated with primogeniture and royal control of land.
The Statute of Wills created a number of requirements for the form of a will, many of which, , survive in
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
jurisdictions. Specifically, most jurisdictions still require that a will must be in writing, signed by the
testator
A testator () is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death. It is any "person who makes a will."Gordon Brown, ''Administration of Wills, Trusts, and Estates'', 3d ed. (2003), p. 556 ...
(the person making the will) and witnessed by at least two other persons. The
Uniform Probate Code in the United States carries forward the two witness requirement of the Statute of Wills, at Section 2-502., except that a document is valid as a
holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting.
[Uniform Probate Code s. 2-502.] In
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
, the Statute of Wills was repealed and superseded by the
Wills Act 1837.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
Dukeminier, Jesse and
Krier, James E. ''Property, Fifth Edition'', pp. 284, 637. Aspen Publishers, 2002.
Related links
*
Statute of Uses
The Statute of Uses (27 Hen 8 c 10 — enacted in 1536) was an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of England that restricted the application of use (law), uses in English property law. The Statute ended the practi ...
*
Cestui que
*
Legal history of wills
Wills have a lengthy history.
Ancient Greece
The Ancient Greek practice concerning wills was not the same in all places; some states permitted men to dispose of their estates, others wholly deprived them of that privilege. According to Plutarc ...
External links
Wills and trusts in the United Kingdom
Acts of the Parliament of England (1485–1603)
Legal history of England
1540 in law
1540 in England
{{England-statute-stub