IN RE: GOODS OF D MCINTYRE Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) When the case came again before the Court the Administrator General produced further evidence as to the domicile of the deceased in the shape of affidavits from persons who had known him and his family in Scotland, together with a certified copy of the deceased s birth certificate, and on the third point a legal opinion from the Hon ble James William Moncrieff, Writer to the Signet, of Edinburgh. The material portion of that opinion ran as follows;--"By the Common Law of Scotland a holograph will is valid wherever made and needs no witnesses. The person founding on the deed as holograph must prove that it is so either by the evidence of persons who saw it written or by evidence as to hand-writing which satisfies the court".

(2.) This further evidence was considered and accepted by the Bench which passed orders as below:

(3.) Upon reading the papers before us including the affidavit of James W. Moncrieff, Writer to the Signet, we are of opinion that the paper writing, dated the 21st of January, 1913, is in the handwriting of the deceased D. MacIntyre, and that according to Scotch Law it constitutes a valid will and that the said D. MacIntyre was a domiciled Scotchman at the time of his death. We accordingly cancel the grant of letters of administration previously directed to be issued to the Administrator General and in lieu thereof direct that letters of administration with the aforesaid document of the 21st of January, 1913, as the last will of D. MacIntyre, annexed do issue to the Administrator General.