Litchfield Enquirer

LAST WILLS.

There exists in the minds of many people a repugnance to the disposition of their property by will. In some it appears to be the influence of an idle superstition as the harbinger of their own death. An idea certainly likely to be realized, if deferred until affected by violent illness. In these circumstances, the mere agitation arising from a sense of neglected duty, in the exertion of repairing it, may very naturally involve dangerous results. But he must be of a very weak mind, who supposes that the disposition of property in one instrument is more likely to anticipate his hour, than a sale of it in another.

To make a will is in the cases of most men a matter of positive duty. And as such Wesley frequently enforced it upon his hearers. It is said that—on one occasion he so wrought upon the conscience of one of his congregation, that he went home with a resolution instantly to repair his neglect. And the excitement of his feelings operated so powerfully upon him, then being in a weak state of health, that death overtook him before he had accomplished his purposes.

That the making of a last will is a religious duty, no one of course, can uphold, but that it may become a duty, and that its neglect may be in the highest degree criminal, are considerations which deeply affect every man. Indeed we can conceive of very few cases in which a man's duty in life can be regarded as fulfilled, if this be neglected. The case of a father, a widower, with only one child, and a moderate fortune, may seem to be that in which a testamentary disposition, or limitation of the property, is useless, and yet it may be a question whether the habits, sex, disposition, and qualities of the offspring, do not render an omission of such disposal as may secure him from probable evils, an obligation incumbent on the parent.

Few men can make their own wills, and perhaps none ought to attempt it without reference to counsel, even in cases where there are no complicated bequests, and where the testator understands his own intentions, a matter—by no means of universal occurrence. There are many peculiarities relating to execution which can be known only to a professional man. Sir W. Blackstone, we believe, recommends to medical and clerical persons, the instruction of themselves in the draughting of wills, so that, when in extremis, the dying person may not really be inops concilii.

It is a great mistake to suppose that it is any advantage to professional men that they should be employed to make wills.—As a matter of compensation, it is of small consideration. As a matter of labor and concoction, frequently of great difficulty. Few disputes grow out of wills drawn up by lawyers. Few quarrels indeed ever occur after application to a lawyer of any respectability in the first instance for advice; but in general, men work themselves into a dispute, and when interest, self love, and the pride of opinion are fully excited on both sides, lawyers are sought rather as means of gratifying malevolence, than of allaying irritation.—Jour. of Law.