The Orphans Legacy, License – part 1
This Book Entituled, The Orphans Legacy, written by John Godolphin LL. Dr. I do LICENSE to be Printed,
Exeter houſe 26. April. 1673. Shaftesbury C.
THE Orphans Legacy: OR, A Teſtamentary Abridgement. In Three PARTS.
I. Of Laſt Wills and Teſtaments.
II. Of Executors and Adminiſtrators.
III. Of Legacies and Deviſes.
WHEREIN The moſt Material Points of Law, relating to that Subject, are ſuccinctly Treated, as well according to the Common and Temporal, as Eccleſiaſtical and Civil Laws of this Realm. ILLUSTRATED With great variety of ſelect Caſes in the Law of both Profeſſions, as well delightful in the Theorie, as uſefull for the Practice of all ſuch as ſtudy the one, or are either Active or Paſſive in the other.
By John Godolphin LL. Dr.
Hebr. Chap. 9. V. 16, and 17.Where a Teſtament is, there muſt alſo of neceſſity be the death of the Teſtator. For a Teſtament is of force after men are dead: otherwiſe it is of no ſtrength at all whilſt the Teſtatour liveth.
LONDON, Printed by E. T. and R. H. and are to be ſold by Joſeph Nevill at the ſign of the Grey-hound in St. Pauls Churchyard; And Chriſtopher Wilkinſon at the Black Boy, over againſt St. Dunſtans Church in Fleet-ſtreet, 1674.
To the Right Honourable, ANTHONY Earl of SHAFTESBURY, Baron ASHLEY of WINBURN St Gyles, and Baron COOPER of PAWLET, Lord Lieutenant of DORSET-SHIRE, Lord High CHANCELLOUR of ENGLAND, and one of His MAJESTIES moſt Honourable PRIVY COUNCIL, &c.
My Lord,
BEfore this Treatiſe Preſumes to hazard it ſelf in the Readers hands, its higheſt. Ambition is to lye at Your Honours Feet. What in the like Caſe was once ſaid to a Perſon of Grandeur, Qui apud te audent dicere, Magnitudinem tuam ignorant; qui non audent, Humanitatem, is my Apology for this Loyal Confidence. Were not the Scales of Juſtice in Your hands; or were the Tribunal, which You Illuſtrate, under a Cloud for want of a Luminary to enlighten the Law; yet ſuch is the Conqueſt Your Victorious Condeſcenſions have made on all not-diſingenuous hearts; Such Your exact Inſpection into Men and Manners; Such Your depth of Juſt and Succeſsfull Counſels; Such Your ſerious Recreation in the more Noble Arts and Sciences; Such Your Dexterity in Reconciling Law to Equity, by Your Great Prudence in the Conduct of Juridical Conteſtations; and All under the immediate Ʋmbrage of Majeſty; That the Inſignificant Author, doubting the Euroclydons of a Cenſorious Age, and Ambitious of his Obligations to Your Lordſhip, humbly Craves Your Pardon for preſuming to take Sanctuary under Your Protection of Equity, in caſe this ORPHANS LEGACY proves not ſo Good in Law, as in the most Critical Conſtruction may Indemnifie,
MY LORD, Your moſt Obſequious Servant, Devoted to your Honours Commands, uſ que ad Aras, JOHN GODOLPHIN.
To the Reader.
NOt in the leaſt to Anticipate any Just Exceptions, but (if poſſible) to prevent all prejudice, let me premiſe, That the Induſtrious Mr Swinburn, (Second to none that ever Writ of this Subject in our Native Dialect) having been pleas'd to confine himſelf to the incomparable Lawes of his own Profeſſion, hath left the fairer Latitude for Variation, admitting him to have tranſcended all poſſibilities of Imitation. And if this Treatiſe ſpeak not in its proper Idiom, it is becauſe Reports could not ſo aptly as Deciſions be taught the Juſtinian Language. Nor let it appear Preſumptive, That a ſubmiſs Votary of his, ſeems to Invade the Territories of an Alien Profeſſion, having ſo many Preſidents for his Warrant therein, as (expunging but a very few Quotations of one or two Apocryphal Authors) may well amount to ſomething like a Juſtification by vertue of the Lex Talionis; That with all ſubmiſſion to the Judicious, as with ſmiles to the Captious, the ſubſcription at a venture may be
Thy Friend J. G.
Of Teſtaments and Laſt Wills.
The Chapters of the Firſt Part.
I. What a Teſtament, a Laſt Will, and Codicil is, and how they differ.
II. Of the ſeveral diſtinctions or kinds of Teſtaments.
III. Of Teſtaments ſolemn and unſolemn.
IV. Of Teſtaments Written and Nuncupative.
V. Of Teſtaments priviledged and unpriviledged.
VI. Of Codicils.
VII. What perſons are incapable of making Teſtaments or Laſt Wills.
VIII. Of perſons Inteſtable by reaſon of the want of diſcretion.
IX. Of perſons Inteſtable for want of Freedom or Liberty.
X. Of Women Covert.
XI. Of perſons Inteſtable for want of their principal ſenſes.
XII. Of perſons Inteſtable by reaſon of ſome Criminal Convictions.
XIII. Of Conditional Teſtaments.
XIV. Of the ſeveral kinds of Conditions incident to Teſtaments.
XV. Of Teſtamentary Conditions in reference to Marriage.
XVI. Of the manner of proceeding during the ſuſpence of the Condition.
XVII. Of Teſtaments void.
XVIII. Of Teſtamentary Revocations.
XIX. Of a Reviver of a Will revoked.
XX. Of the Probate of Teſtaments.
XXI. Of Proof requiſite to a Will.
XXII. Bona Notabilia.