If, however, a legatee be described by initials of his name only, parol evidence may be given to prove his identity. This was done in the case of Abbott v. Massie,[205] where the bequest was: “Pint Silver Mug and all my China to Mrs. G., and £10 for mourning.” Mrs. Gregg claimed the legacies, and (the Master having refused to admit testimony) offered to show that she was the person intended. Exception was taken to his ruling, upon which the court declared that he ought to receive evidence to prove who Mrs. G. was.
The principle upon which parol evidence is admitted in these cases is a presumption of possible ignorance in the testator of the Christian name of the legatee, or of his being accustomed to calling a person by the name of Mrs. B, a presumption which, being raised upon the face of the will, may be confirmed and explained by extrinsic evidence. Upon this ground, it is consistent with the established doctrine that such evidence is admissible to remove latent ambiguities, but cannot be admitted to explain patent ambiguities in a will. This is founded on Lord Bacon’s well-known maxim: “Ambiguitas verborum latens verificatione suppletur.”
CHAPTER V.
Limits to Testamentary Disposition.
While the law has generally granted the privilege of testamentary disposition, it has not deemed it expedient or politic to give the absolute and unrestricted power, so that a person can make a posthumous disposition of his property in any way he thinks proper. For the public welfare, it has seemed judicious to impose certain restrictions on the right exercised by a person in distributing his property after his decease. It is well known that if an uncontrolled, absolute power were given, that individuals would sometimes disregard the claims of those who have a natural right to their bounty, and gratify their pride, their whims, or their vagaries in disposing of their property by will.
The possession of a large amount of property during a man’s lifetime gives him such a consciousness of power and authority, that it is difficult to disabuse his mind of the idea that he cannot perpetuate his name, his influence and control, after his death, by distributing and disposing of his property according to his pleasure.
The law is full of instances where men have attempted, by schemes in devising their property, to establish a name and an influence that would abide long after the mind that conceived them had ceased to act or control.
This has been the ambition, we may call it the infirmity, of some great minds; indeed, it seems sometimes a special characteristic of such persons to desire to live thus in the memory of posterity, by some remarkable and striking mode of disposing of their property after their decease, so as to leave some visible token of their influence and prestige, either in an institution or in a family,[206] either in a charity or a monument.