4360. Wills.—A will is an instrument in writing, executed in form of law, by which a person makes a disposition of his property, to take effect after his death.
4361. A codicil is a supplement or addition to a will, and by which the will is altered, explained or added to, but in no case wholly revoked.
4362. A bequest to a subscribing of a will is void.
4363. Let every man about to make a will endeavor to make it as concise as possible; and if he employs a lawyer, agree to pay him, not by the length, but by the transaction. Let him keep in his mind that every trust or use he creates, also creates the danger of a lawsuit. Every will should be dated on the day it is executed.
4364. It is also of the first importance that it should be prepared without blot or alteration, or erasure, for it is an instrument that may not come into operation for many years—of a surety not until the party best capable of explaining it, the testator himself, is removed from the scene of evidence, and possibly not until both the writer of it, and the witnesses, have either ceased to exist, or whose locality is not to be traced.