“But the corporation proposed by the late Lorin French,” said Lyman, “is not only unempowered to receive, it is not yet in existence as a corporation. It may never be created, and a bequest to either a natural or an artificial being, not even quickened with incipient life, not even conceived at the time of the bequest, may be questioned as of doubtful validity. But it is profitless to discuss these questions, because there is another section of the civil code which disposes completely of this so-called will. I refer to section number 1313. Thirteen is certainly an unlucky number for the workers of San Francisco. By that section it is provided that no will devising property for charitable or benevolent uses, shall be valid unless made at least thirty days before the death of the testator, and that in no event can a man bequeath more than one-third of his estate for such purpose, if he have natural heirs. It is also provided that all dispositions of property made contrary to the statute shall be void, and the property go to the residuary legatee, next of kin, or heir, according to law.”
“That was one of the wise laws that the sand-lot statesmen gave us,” said Bruff, sarcastically.
“Deed, and it wasn’t a sand-lot law at all,” interrupted a stalwart, red-bearded attorney with a slight Milesian accent. “It was passed away back in the seventies. Old Moriarty was down with typhoid fever, and Father Gallagher was pressin’ him every day to save his soul by lavin’ his millions to the Jesuit College and Hospital. But before the priest could get the old man in condition, Mike Moriarty slipped Nat Bronton—the king of the lobby—up to Sacramento with $20,000 rint money that Mike collected while his father was ill, and the bill was rushed through under suspinsion of the rules. Two days after the bill became a law, Father Gallagher coaxed and dhrove old Moriarty into signing a will that cut Mike off wid $50,000, and left $3,000,000 to the church, and the next week they buried the old man, with masses enough to put him through purgatory in an express train. They say that there was a scrappin’ match between Father Gallagher and Mike when the priest found that he had been outgeneraled, and Mike lost the top of his left ear, but he saved his father’s estate. Sure, the whole case is reported in the fortieth California, under the title of the Society of Jesus against Moriarty, and it decides this will of French’s sure enough.”
When the ripple of laughter which this interruption provoked had subsided, Mr. Lyman resumed:—
“My learned friend Casey is right, your Honor; the case he quoted does decide this one. If this will had been made more than thirty days before the death of Mr. French, it could at most have disposed of but one-third of his property. But it was made only two days before his death, and, under section 1313 of the code, is utterly void,” and the speaker resumed his seat.
The Court turned to the attorney who had offered the will for probate.
“What have you to say to this, Mr. Bruff?” he inquired. “All the claimants for the estate will doubtless agree with the position taken by the attorney for the public administrator. They are joined in interest in overturning the will. You alone defend the beneficent purposes of the dead man. What have you to say?”
“What can I say, your Honor?” said Bruff, bitterly. “It is another instance of a man conceited and obstinate enough to attempt making his own will. If my old friend French had called me in, I would have told him that courts and juries in California seldom allow a man to dispose of his own estate, if it be a large one, and he must give his savings away in his lifetime if he wishes to prevent his sixth cousins from rioting on them. I would have had Lorin French convey his vast property to trustees to carry out his plans, and have affected the transfer completely while he was yet alive. But he, great and simple soul, supposed, naturally enough, that he had a right to do as he pleased with his own, and that, being without near kindred, and no person having any claim upon him, he could help the poor with the money it had taken him half a century to accumulate. He was originally educated to the law, and, although he had been out of practice for thirty years, he knew how to formulate a will. But he was not aware of the ravages committed by a California Legislature among the time-honored principles of the common law. Mark the result of legislative folly and individual inadvertence. Twenty millions of dollars, which their owner proposed to devote to a grand and comprehensive experiment for adjusting the vexed relations of labor and capital, will now be consumed in court costs and witness fees, divided among a horde of attorneys, and finally scattered in selfish enjoyment, and in ways unuseful to man, all over the world from Australia to Elko. It’s the law, I suppose, and neither your Honor nor I can help it, but it’s an accursed shame, nevertheless.”
And Mr. Bruff, pale with excitement, resumed his seat.
“The Court can not only pardon your emphatic language, Brother Bruff,” said his Honor, “but indorses it. If I could discover any loophole which might be crawled through, or any way by which I could break down or climb over the legislative barrier, and validate the bequest of Lorin French, I would certainly do so. I will reserve for further consideration the question of the validity of the legacies to the wounded, and the families of those killed in the riot. I am inclined to think that portion of the will may be good, and so carry with it the right of Louis Browning to letters testamentary. For the present, however, I am reluctantly compelled to sustain the objection of the attorney for the public administrator, and refuse the will admission to probate. It is ordered accordingly. Mr. Clerk, note the exception of Mr. Bruff to my ruling. I will take my summer vacation now, and go fishing. I shall adjourn court for one month, and the further hearing of this case for two months. In the meantime, if the gentlemen who represent the various applicants for letters of administration, will leave their papers with the clerk, I will, upon my return, give them careful attention.”