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72 WILLS and TESTAMENTS.
The manner of proving wills within this province,
is, as may be observed by the foregoing
directions, neither wholly in the one way, nor
in the other, but is a compound of both--
because all wills here are proved in common form,
that is, by the executor, to be the true will,
and per testes, by the witnesses thereto subscribed,
or of so many of them as do appear--and most
generally the widow, or other representatives
of the deceased are present at the time of probate,
(tho' not cited for that purpose) and do
acknowledge themselves to be content with,
and that they have no objection to the taking
of the probate.
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Regularly (that is, by the civil law) testaments
are to be exhibited for probate to the
commissary, within four months next after the testator's
death; and, says Swinburn, fol. 447, " the
" ordinary may sequester the goods of the deceased,
" until the executors have proved the
" testament; so may the metropolitan, if the
" goods be in divers dioceses; also the ordinary
" may compel the executor to prove the will,
" and to accept or refuse the administration."
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By the common law of England, since the
conquest, no greater estate in land than for
years could be disposed of by will, except by |
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