PROBATE, COURT OF. The grant of letters of administration of the effects of persons dying intestate, and of probate of tho wills of testa tors, which were formerly the prerogative of the Ecclesiastical Courts [ECCLESIASTICAL COURT2q, have been recently (20 & 21 Viet. c. 77) vested in a newly estali ished court, called the Court of Probate. The functions of this court are confined entirely to deciding upon the authenticity of wills, and upon the proper persons to whom administra tion is to be committed, when no will exists. With the distribution of the property of deceased persons, and the rights of the various parties who claim it beneficially, the court has nothing to do. These matters must be decided by the courts of law and equity, as before the passing of the Act. The duties of executors and administrators remain the same as formerly. A central registry of wills and administration is established in London, and district registrars arc established in forty of the principal towns of England. The office or registry in which probate or a grant of administration is to be sought, is no longer to be determined by the locality of the assets of the deceased person, but by the place where the deceased had a fixed abode at the time of death. Should the testator or intestate have a permanent place of residence in one of the registry districts at the time of his decease, probate or grant of administration may be obtained there ; but the executors or parties claiming administration may, if they think fit, apply to the principal or metropolitan registry, and this may iu some cases to found more convenient. Original wills proved in the country will be preserved in the district registries; but copies of them will be transmitted to the principal registry in London, so that in future the metropolitan registry will be the most convenient office of search for any will whatsoever.
The practice of jthe Court of Probate has been thrown open to the whole legal profession, so that the close monopoly of testamentary business formerly enjoyed by advocates and proctors is at an cud.
The court is presided over by a single judge, who sits at Westminster. An appeal lies from his decision direct to the House of Lords.
In cases where a person dies in one of the forty districts, leaving personal property under 2001., the judge of the County Court of the district has jurisdiction ehould any contention arise, but from his decision an appeal, which is final, lies) to the Court of l'robate.
One principal advantage of the new system lies in the removal of all difficulty as to the question where a will ought to be proved, and the old question of bona notabilia, on which the necessity of obtaining prerogative probate or administration was founded. The rules of evidence in the Court of Probate are to be the same as those in courts of law and equity, while its proceedings are likewise assimilated to those of the courts of common law.
The duties raised in the Probate Court yielded in the year ending March 31, 1860, the sum of 3,463,220/., including the succession duties. The legacy duty is charged on legacies of the value of 20/. and upwarLie out of personal estate or charged upon real estate, and upon every share of residue. Legacy to a husband or wife is exempt from duty. To a child, the husband of a child, a parent, or any lineal descendant or ancestor of the deceased, the duty is 1/. per. cent.; to a brother or sister or their descendants, 31. per cent.; to an uncle or aunt or their descendants, 51. per cent. ; to a great uncle or great aunt or their descendants, Of. per cent.; to any other relation or any stranger in blood, la per cent. The probate duty is payable on the total sum left by the deceased. For sums above 20/. and not exceeding 100/. the duty is 10s. if there is a will ; and if there is no will the duty of 10s. is chargeable on sums of 20/. and not exceeding 501. The duties con tinue to increase according to a certain scale. The succession duties on real estate have the same scale, and the valuation is made according to the worth as an annuity.