A Year’s Wills
The Registrar-General has drawn from a calendar of the Wills and Administrations of the year 1858, the following interesting calculations. 210,972 adults died in the twelvemonth, and 30,823 persons left personal property behind them; 21,653 had made their Wills; the other 9170 had made none, and letters of administration had to be taken out. 89 persons with more than 10,000l. (one worth 100,000l.) died without making a Will. The aggregate amount of property left by all these persons is estimated at 71,860,792l., averaging 2331l. each. Distinguishing between the men and the women, we find that 102,049 adult men died in the year, and 21,454 left personal property—for one who left any, four leaving none; 108,923 adult women died, and 9369 left personal property. The average amount left by the men was 2751l.; by the women, 1371l. Omitting now any estimate for the first ten days of the year, and dealing only with the actual Wills and administrations of the rest of the twelvemonth, the personal property of those who died leaving any, 29,979 in number, amounted to 69,893,380l., of which 57,396,350l. was left by the men, and 12,497,030l. by women. The stream of wealth flowed thus:—
| Persons. | Dying worth | Left |
| 22,513 | Less than 1000l. | 5,762,880l. |
| 6277 | 1000l. but less than 10,000l. | 20,010,500l. |
| 1020 | 10,000l. but less than 50,000l. | 21,960,000l. |
| 102 | 50,000l. but less than 100,000l. | 7,100,000l. |
| 67 | Above 100,000l. | 15,060,000l. |
| ———— | —————— | |
| 29,979 | 69,893,380l. |
Only one property was sworn as high as 900,000l. and under 1,000,000; 1935 were under 20l. The property divides nearly equally at 20,000l. About 35,000,000l. belonged to 29,392 persons, none having more than 20,000l., and the other 35,000,000l. belonged to 587 persons, fifty times fewer than the former company. Of those who left above 100,000l., 37 were described as esquires, a term which would include men who had made their fortunes by trade or commerce; ten were titled personages, five were bankers, four merchants, three clergymen, one cotton manufacturer, one corn merchant, one hotel-keeper; one was in the navy, one in the Indian army, one in the Indian Civil Service, one was a spinster. Three medical men left more than 50,000l. A person described when he made his will as a commercial clerk left above 30,000l.; 17 “labourers and mechanics” above 1000l. Of 75 lawyers, 15 died without making their Wills. The foregoing statements, which must be taken as approximations rather than an absolute accuracy, relate to England alone. In the year ending March 31, 1859, legacy-duty was paid in the United Kingdom on 62,441,611l., but that does not include property passing from husband to wife or the converse, no legacy-duty being then payable; succession-duty on real property was paid upon 29,242,630l., and, estimating that to be taxed to the next successor at half its saleable value, it will amount to 58,485,260l. On this assumption 123,926,871l. passed by death to another generation of successors. It is certainly a remarkable fact, that (upon an average) on every death, including alike men, women, and children, more than 100l. of property paying legacy-duty, and perhaps 187l. of property of every kind, is left for the benefit of successors in the United Kingdom.—Times.
The extraordinary circumstances under which Wills are sometimes made have given rise to the following suggestive remarks by an able writer in the Saturday Review:—
“If the matter is considered in reference to general principles, there is no more curious power in the world than the right which people exercise by Will of legislating after they are dead and gone, without restraint and without appeal; and it is perhaps even more singular that they exercise this power without being subject to any formalities whatever except the presence of two witnesses. To sell a house or a field is a matter which requires care and inquiry, and the circumstances ensure a certain degree of notoriety. But property of any amount may be disposed of in any way that caprice may dictate by an instrument which may be executed under any circumstances, and kept in any custody. No one but the testator need know its contents, and he may, and often does, prepare it with the most wanton caprice, and leave it in the most absurd depository to take its chance of loss or discovery as it may happen. It is well worth consideration whether the unlimited power which the law of England confers of making whatever Wills a testator chooses ought not to be qualified by some special provisions as to the manner in which such wills should be made.”