The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-04 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORWICH CIRCUIT—NORWICH, April 2.
(Before the Lord Chief Justice and a Special Jury.)

_
WRIGHT V. WILKIN.
Mr. O'Malley, Q.C., MJ Keane, and Mr. D.
Browne for the plaintiff; Mr. Sergeant Parry, Mr.
T. H. Terrell, of the Chancery bar (both specially
retained), Mr. C. Cooper, and Mr. Couch for the
defendant.

This was an action of ejectment. Much litigation
has already taken place with respect to this pro-
perty, both in the Court of Chancery and the courts
of common law. The last trial was an action of
ejectment, tried on the 3d of December last, in the
Court of Common Pleas, at 'Westminster, before the
Lord Chief Justice Erle, in which the defendant
obtained a verdict.

The plaintiff claims as heir-at-law, and the de-
fendant as devisee of a Miss Mary Ann Mann, who
died at Lynn in the month of December, 1856, at
the age of 84. That lady left landed property to
the extent of £B,OOO or £lO,OOO in value. The pedi-
gree of the plaintiff was not gone into, as it was
agreed that this question, if necessary, should be
referred to his Lordship's decision ; but the learned
counsel stated him to be "the great great grandson
of the grandfather of the mother of the testatrix."
The plaintiff is at present a clerk in the brewery at
Chatteris, in the Isle of Ely.
The defendant is an attorney residing at Lynn,
and managed Miss Mann's affairs during he last two
or three years of her life. For many years Miss Mann's
affairs had been managed by Mr. W. Jarvis, an at-
torney and banker at Lynn, a gentleman of about
the same age as Miss Mann. It appeared that Miss
Mann had been for many years on intimate terms
with Mr. Jarvis's family, and in October, 1853, she
made her will, by which she gave to her servant,
Jane Burton, the sum of £5OO, to another servant,
Sarah Burton £2OO, to Margaret Hennington
£2OO, to Mr. W. Jarvis £4OO, to the West Norfolk
hospital £2OO, and some other minor legacies • and
she then gave to Mr. Whincop Jarvis, the so' n of
Mr. W. Jarvis, all the residue of her real and per-
sonal estate. At the same time a document was
drawn up and signed by the testatrix by which she
desired Mr, Whincop Jarvis to convey as soon as
possible after her decease to the vicar and church-
wardens of the chapel of Tylney St. Lawrence, near
Lynn, 17 acres of land belonging to the testatrix,
for the purpose of keeping the chapel in repair.
Upon this chapel Miss Mann had in her lifetime
expended £2,500. in December, 1853, the defen-
dant, who at that time resided in London, came to
Lynn for the purpose of conducting an action for
defamation brought by Jane Burton, one of the two
sisters in the service of Miss Mann. Jane Burton
had been accused of destroying a child of which her
sister Sarah was the mother, and to clear herself
from this charge she brought the action. It was
tried in this city in the year 1853 before Lord
Campbell, and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff.
About the same time the defendant in this action
was also employed by Jane Burton to defend ber
against a charge of forgery which had been made
against her, and which charge was dismissed by the
magistrates. These charges against her servants,
both of whom were great favourites, caused Miss
Mann great uneasiness, and in the course of the fre-
quent interviews which she had with defendant upon
this subject she became very favourably impressed
with his assiduity and intelligence. The defendant
after this constantly came to Lynn, and on several
occasions saw Miss Mann. About this time that
lady appeared to have conceived some resentment
against Mr. Weston Jarvis on account of his advising
her with some pertinacity to get rid of the two
Burtons, and some other interferences of a petty
description in her domestic affairs. Of these, accord-
ing to the defendant's statement, she made frequent
complaint to him, and eventutilly, in the month of
April, 1854, she informed him that she intended to
revoke her will in Mr. Whincop Jarvis, i s
favour, and
to leave her property to himself; and requested
the defendant to prepare a will accordingly. This,
the defendant said, he at first refused to do but
Miss Mann insisting upon it on several occasions,
he at length acceded, upon the con ditionthat two
responsible witnesses were calle, in to witness the
execution of the will. The defendant then said that
Miss Mann gave into his hands the will made by
her in favour of Mr. Jarvis, which he read over,
marking in pencil the alterations which Miss Mann
suggested, the effect of which was to substitute the
defendant's name in the place of that of Mr. Whin-
cop Jarvis as residuary devisee, to leave two lega-
cies of £4OO to the Messrs. Jarvis, and to introduce
a clause by which, instead of the separate document
already alluded to, £BOO was directed to be ex-
pended for the benefit of the chapel at Tylney St.
Lawrence ; in other respects the will was the same
as before. The executors of this will were Mr. Lep-
pings and Mr. Carter, gentlemen of high respecta-
bility residing at Lynn. The attesting witnesses,
two medical gentlemen residing at Lynn, and other
medical gentlemen and others acquainted with Miss
Mann, were called, and were unanimous in express-
ing their opinion that Miss Mann, although some-
what capricious and self-willed, was perfectly com-
petent to make a will.
At the conclusion of the evidence in support of
the will, a long legal argument ensued upon points
purely technical, which were ultimately reserved
by his lordship for the consideration of the Court
of Queen's Bench.

APRIL 3.
This case was resumed this morning. Mr. Whin-
cop Jarvis and several other witnesses were called
for the plaintiff; the principal object of their evi-
dence being to show the propriety of the conduct
of the Messrs. Jarvis, in connexion with the testa-
trix and her servants and in the management of
her affairs.
Mr. O'Malley having summed up the evidence,
the jury found a verdict for the defendant.

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