very important. But any persons competent to do ordinary acts of business may be witnesses. Nor do the usual disqualifications for business apply. Thus, married women and minors may be witnesses of wills. But no person should be called upon to witness a will, who is a legatee, or an executor, or otherwise interested in the will. If such a person were a witness, it might not avoid the will; but a legatee would lose or be obliged to renounce his legacy; and, generally, it might lead to unintended results. What was said in relation to deeds, of witnesses remembering, &c., or proof of handwriting in case of their death or absence, is true also of wills.

As to the body of the will, the testator must express his wishes as clearly and accurately as possible; and, unless he has good legal advice, he should make the disposition of his property as simple as possible.

The word "bequeath" applies, properly, to personal estate only; the word "devise," to real estate only. It is safe enough to begin, "I give, bequeath, and devise my estate, and property, as follows: that is to say,"-and then go on and tell what shall be done with this and that piece of property, or sum of money.

Words of inheritance should be added to any devise of land, (if not intended for the life of the devisee only,) as was said in reference to deeds; although they are not required in wills so peremptorily as in deeds.

If it is intended, as usually is the case, that the will should apply to all the real estate possessed by the testator at the time of his death, although purchased after the will is made, there should be a clause expressing this intention.

If children are not provided for in a will, the law presumes they were forgotten; and it gives to any such child the same share as if there were no will, unless the omission is explained and accounted for, in such wise as to show that it was intentional. The same rule applies, quite generally, to the issue of a deceased child. If the child were provided for in the lifetime of the father, the law, generally, will not presume that he was forgotten; it is best, however, to guard against any question of the kind, by naming the children, and saying that the omission to give them anything is intentional.

A testator should always name his executors; but the will is perfectly good without any executor being named, for the court of probate will appoint an "administrator with the will annexed."

SECTION II.

OF CODICILS.

A CODICIL is a little additional will. That is, it is a testamentary disposition, not revoking the former will, but varying it in some way, or making changes in it. There can be but one will, and that the last; but there may be any number of codicils, all valid. The changes made by a codicil in a will, or in former codicils, should be very distinctly stated; and some words like these should be used. "I hereby expressly confirm my former will, dated -, excepting so far as the disposition of my property is changed by this codicil." And the codicil should be called, at the beginning and end, a codicil, and executed and witnessed in the same manner as a will.

If a codicil gives one a legacy, who has already one by the will, the codicil should state whether it gives the second legacy instead of the first, or in addition to it. And if advances are made to a child during life, there should be an indorsement on the will, (but a codicil would be better,) stating whether these advances are to be charged to him, and in what way, whether with interest, &c.

SECTION III.

OF THE REVOCATION OF WILLS.

THE law concerning the revocation of a will is quite nice and technical. A codicil, we have seen, does not revoke, and a new will does. So might tearing off the name; but then the question might come, who tore it off. It is best to leave

neither this nor any other question; and therefore to destroy a will which it is intended to revoke. If the will is out of the testator's reach and power, and so cannot be destroyed, it would be best to make a new will, revoking the old one; which any testator can always do.

A will is revoked by the operation of law, if the testator afterwards marry and have a child. If the testator, after this, intends that his will shall take effect, he should expressly confirm it; and the correct way to do this would be by making a new will. If he leaves anything to his wife, and intends that she should have it instead of dower, or of the additional rights which recent statutes in some of the States have given her, he should say so. And then she will not have both, but may choose between the provision of the law and that of the will.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

STATUTES FOR THE RECOVERY AND COLLECTION OF DEBTS.

1. Of Arrest and Imprisonment.

IN eight States no person can be arrested or imprisoned for debt. These are Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Texas. In California no female, and in Louisiana no female and no person who has. not a domicile in the State, and in Ohio no female nor any officer or soldier of the Révolutionary army, can be arrested or imprisoned for debt. In all the other States, the intention of the law is to limit imprisonment to those cases in which either fraud was committed in the contraction of the debt, or the debtor intends to abscond out of the reach of process. The provisions to effect this are very various. Generally, the plaintiff must file in the clerk's office, or indorse upon the writ, an affidavit of the facts on which he grounds the right of arrest. In some of the States provision is made for the imprisonment on execution of a debtor who can be found to possess, and refuses to surrender, property or interest, real or personal, which might be made available for the payment of his debts.

2. Of the Trustee Process.

The trustee process, or garnishee process, or process of foreign attachment,- by all which names it is known,— is now nearly or quite universal. It is substantially this. A owes B a debt; but A has no property in his hands or possession which B can get at; but A has deposited in the hands of C goods or property or credits of some kind, or A has a valid claim against C, for wages or services, or money loaned, or goods sold, or something else; and this B gets by suing A, not with a common writ, but with a trustee writ, so called, in which he declares that B is the trustee of A, for property, &c., and on this writ,

if B recovers payment against A, B will have an execution against all A's property in the hands of C, and all A's valid demands against C. But C, when notified, may come into court, and, in answer to all questions put to him, declare that he (C) has no property in his hands belonging to A, and that he does not owe A anything. And the plaintiff may shape the questions as he pleases to draw out the truth.

No one is adjudged trustee, or made to pay to the creditor the debt due to the debtor, if he has given a negotiable note for it, because he might have to pay it again to an honest indorsee. Nor if the debt is not certainly due; nor, generally, if it is due from the trustee in any official capacity, which will require him to account over for the money in his hands; nor if the debtor has recovered a judgment against the trustee, on which execution may issue.

3. Of the Homestead.

In sixteen of the States, a homestead is protected from creditors, and exempted from all attachment or execution, excepting in some States for taxes, or wages of labor to a certain amount. In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, and Iowa, it is limited to five hundred dollars in value. In Georgia, fifty acres, not to exceed two hundred dollars. In Florida, forty acres, not to exceed two hundred dollars. In New York, New Jersey, and Illinois, not to exceed one thousand dollars; in Michigan, fifteen hundred dollars; in Texas, two hundred acres or two thousand dollars in value; in California, five thousand dollars.

Various provisions are made in each of these States to combine a due protection of the creditor with proper prevention of fraud. The most common means are by requiring that "the homestead" should be distinctly defined and set apart, and in many cases by the additional requirement that the description and location of it should be put on public record.

In all the States there are also exemption laws. These provide very generally that bed and bedding and other necessary furniture, needful clothing, a Bible and school-books, and a certain amount of food and fuel, shall not be taken on attach