The court considered the difference between an obligation accepted in law, and what was described as ‘an honourable engagement’.
Judges:
Lord Loughborough LC, Lord Camden L.C
Citations:
(1797) 3 Ves Jun 402, [1797] EngR 489, (1797) 3 Ves Jun 402, (1797) 30 ER 1076
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Lord Walpole v Lord Orford 1789
The court was asked, where there were two inconsistent wills, to which of them a later codicil must be held to refer.
The equitable maxim, voluntas testatoris ambulatotia est usque ad mortem, operates so that an instrument which appears to be . .
Cited by:
Cited – Goodchild and Another v Goodchild CA 2-May-1997
The deceased and his wife made wills in virtually identical form. The husband changed his will after their divorce, but his son and other wife claimed that the couple had intended the wills to be part of a larger arrangement of their affairs, . .
Cited – In re Cleaver dec’d, Cleaver v Insley ChD 1981
Cases of mutual wills are only one example of a wider category of cases, for example secret trusts, in which a court of equity will intervene to impose a constructive trust.
Nourse J said: ‘The principle of all these cases is that a court of . .
Cited – In Re Estate of Monica Dale Dec, Proctor v Dale ChD 11-Feb-1993
The claimant’s parents had made mutual wills dividing their estates equally between the claimant and her brother. After the father’s death the mother chaged her will to give the biggest benefit to the brother.
Held: The mother could change her . .
Cited – In re Dale dec’d ChD 1994
The taking of a benefit on the strength of a binding engagement is enough to create a constructive trust. For this doctrine to apply there must be a contract at law. For the doctrine of mutual wills to apply it is not necessary that the second . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Trusts
Updated: 16 June 2022; Ref: scu.183793