The will or testament of a man is one of the most important instruments of the law, affecting as it sometimes does the disposition of immense wealth, great estates, or other possessions. It is one of the simplest things in the world to draw correctly, to execute correctly, and to make binding on the successors of the testator. On the other hand, there is nothing in the whole law more capable of signally failing through some trifling omission. People have a tendency to go to a solicitor for the purpose of having a will drafted, but, while this is generally a good precautionary measure, if the solicitor be a reputable member of his profession, it is not altogether necessary. It is of no legal account whether a testator writes out a holograph or gets someone else to draw up the terms of a will for him. A typewritten document is equally as good as either. The main points connected with the subject can be set out in a few words. A testator must sign the will at the foot or end thereof, or it may be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction; and such signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses, present at the same time; and such witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, but no form of attestation shall be necessary. Every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear in the will. No will made by any person under the age of twenty-one years shall be valid. As a general rule, every will made by a man or woman shall be revoked by his or her marriage. All gifts or legacies by will to an attesting witness, or to the husband or wife of such witness, or to any person claiming under either of them, shall be void; but such witness shall be admissible to prove the execution of the will. On the face of it, these rules are easily grasped and easily conformed with, though the slightest divergence from them, or an oversight, may prove fatal to the validity of the will. For instance, it is of vital importance for the testator to sign his will in the presence of the two witnesses, and for the two witnesses to sign in each other’s presence[11] and in the testator’s presence.