Case Name: ESTATE OF JAMES McCLOUD
Court: Probate Court of the City and County of San Francisco
Jurisdiction: California
Decision Date: 1873-01-02
Citations: 1 Myrick 23
Docket Number: 
Parties: ESTATE OF JAMES McCLOUD.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of Cases in the Probate Court of the City and County of San Francisco, from January 1, 1872, to December 31, 1879, Milton H. Myrick, Probate Judge
Volume: 1
Pages: 23–24

Head Matter:
ESTATE OF JAMES McCLOUD.
January 2, 1873.
Will.—Autograph will where testator died before the authorization of an olographic will by the C. Code and not attested by witnesses, is a nullity.
By the law of what date governed.—The law in force at the date of the death of the testator governs the formalities of attestation.
Construing section, C. C., 1375.

Opinion:
Deceased attempted to make a will in 1866; lie wrote it and signed it with his own hand, but it was not witnessed. McCloud died before Jan. 1, 1873, when the new codes went into effect. Under the codes, no witness is necessary to an olographic will; but under the law as it existed at the death of McCloud, all wills must be witnessed.
By the Court:
The failure to have the paper witnessed is fatal to its validity as a will. The law in force at the death of a person furnishes the rule by which the validity of an alleged will is to be determined. Probate denied.