The Express.
London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

tatu ilnulligcnrc.
HOUSE OF LORDS —?leach 13.

Aresam.
Pekes the Lad Macellea, the Earl of Shaftesbury, &e.)
00Th r. RoSBlloaol'Ott—St'llferar.
This was as appeal from the Court of Chancery in Ireland.
The suit wall instituted in order to entablieli the invalidity of
the will of Corr Coklosigh. of Tintern Abbey, Wexford, so
far as related to his Wexford etiolate. The testator, who
tech 22Ied of August, 1642, by hie will, datsd the 6th Aug,,
1142, gave and deviant all his reel and personal agates to
his with Jam Stratford Ceti tough, for her own absolute use
and benefit; appointed her his executrix, and revoked all
=wills made by him. The uncut appellant, Jane
Boyne was the widow of the testator, who wee
married to Mr. Celt:lough in 1818, her maiden name being
Krises*. In 1846, after the death of her first husband, oho
married Thomas Boya .. who died iu January, 1851. The
reepundent, Mary Grey Wentworth Itosehurungh Coleicmgh,
clauses to Le heimo-at-law of Mr. Colelough, and she and
her Unbend, end the Rev. Richard Ito) ee, the executor of
Thomas Wyse, were the parties iustituting the suit below.
The property of the teteetor, at his death, coexisted of real
inane en the county of Ai cermet of the value of 7,0001.
per menthe( • freehold house and premises In Chet-
unbent end of about 70,001/1. personalty in England
sod Ireland. The will was impeached on the ground that at
the time of making it Mr. Cult lough was not of sound and
desposieg mind, and that hie wife, immediately titer bee
marriage, formed • syetesuatic plan to separate and mime*
him from all the member. of Lie Weedy ; and fleet she hod
acquired nut only undue influence, but complete commend
and control over him, eo as to deprive him altogether of flee
agency over hi. sautes or atruirs ; that, under such undue
influence, the will in question au made; and that et the
time of making it he was eat aware that he was devising and
bequeathing to his wife all his teal and peewee! edam. The
bill, which was filed in September. 1149, ended, amongst
other t a, that the plaintiffs, the now respondents, wished
to proceed by ejectment to re^over the Wexford Wane, but
that there were eutetanding terms whiell would be let up es
• bar to any *Chewed It therefore ;Royal that the will of
6th Anglia, 1842, might be declared void, or that an tante
might be directed to try w briber the fr,,hoia .dates of the
testator were devised by the mid will. The Lost Chanceller of
Ireland, at the hearing of the cause in January, 1812, ordered
that a tried at law should Lae place at the aealres for Wex-
ford, on the hum deviaisit eel non; and at the trial the
Jury found that the paper dented Gilt August, 1842, wee not
the last will and tees/tient of Caner Colelough. A motion
was and, on the pert of the defendants fur • new trial, but
It was refused ; and the cause tame on before the Lord Chan-
cellor on further directions, when • decree was made den
daring the altered will null sad net, mid an Order was made
to pat the *atilt*, ;the now respondents, in poreasion of
the heth. estate,. The resent appeal the then brought,
on the ground that the ontenng of the hue was not in con-
Sirmity with the principle. sad practice of • court of equity;
that tee only relief the plantar& hod in equity was the rt
mond of any legal impediment to an action of ejectment ;
that It was beyond the jurisdiction of a court of equity to
declare the invalidity of a will; and that If the order for an
hews was right, • new trial ought, wider the cireuntstaaces,
to here been granted. The appeal was argued last urea at
gnat length, and the teenier of the house postponed.
Tit. Lord Chancellor now delivered hie op me, eel hosing
gone through the feels of the ease, said that with regard to
the point that as there was on °Unending eerie which pre-
venial • trial of ',thalweg, the direction of en issue devisavit
eel non was wrong, the only duty of a court of equity being
to remove any legal impediment to the trial of an ejectment ;
be could not take upon himself to my that the Court of
Clanceryconld net direct the trial of a legal questionby means
of an iesue merely. became they might grant the other ro-
be. Ile was of elution thou the court could direct such an
Mme, and therefore in that respect the decree of the court
below ought not to be disturbed. Re was also of opinion that
it was in the discretion of the Court of Chancery to try the
validity of a will, and therefore the neat quakes no. what
was the Irene the jury had to try. It no, whether the peeper
writing of 6th Aug., 1642, war the last will of Clew Lel-
dough. The gestation then arose whether the evidence
showed that the testator was in • stab of mind to make a
wi I. lien lordship nett through the evidence on thin point,
and Laid that Mr. Coklough was of 'efficiently diepoeing
mind. Assuming that there came the Cinestion whether the
will wee mode under the undue inflates of hie wife, it
was nmessery te meths' what was endue influence aqui-
tion always of difficulty, sad will greeter where the portico
were Unbent and wife. Ciadoe Influence to itrialidate a
will must Le inhume exercised either by eremites or fraud.
The Lenten of proof of undue influence ley on the mum
seeking to impends the will, end he did not see that there
was eridence sufficient to warrant the vevdirt of the jury in
this case. The will war executed apert from his wife by the
testator, and in the presence only of Lis *elicitor and medical
attendant. He baked in rain for es idence of feted or car-
eke,, except such as was inferential from certain threats
uttered by the wife with regard to the dieposal of his pro-
perty with reference to his relations. On the thole, three-
kre, he thought that it had not Leen mffiriently Amen that
setae Whew, bed been exercised en the testator. As he
thought the verdict woe wrong, he eau thought
dist the Lord Chencellor of Ireland ought to hen
I directed a new trW ; upecially ea the facts were not eo pat
le the jury u that they could fully nu:lnstant the ease. lie
should therefore whim their lordships to declare that the
eider of the court below be discharged, and the cause re-
adies* to Ireland with • declaration that Uwe mast be a new
kW.
Appal snowed,