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Source: Bell's Weekly Messenger, No.1858, Sunday, November 13, 1831

Prerogative Court.

In the ? of Henry Selwyn, Esq.

Mr. Selwyn, of the War Office, with his lady, perished in the Rothsay Castle, in which they happened to be passengers. By his will he appointed Mrs. Selwyn his executrix, and in case she should die in his life-time, other executors were appointed. The circumstances of their death raised the question whether the contingency provided for in the will had or had not occurred; and whether the wife's representatives or the executors named in the event of her prior death were to take administration.

The Court said that, in other similar cases, it had been held that, as both parties might be supposed to have perished together, the wife could not have survived her husband; but in this case the words were, "in case she should die in my life-time." The presumption was, that the husband, as the strongest of the two, survived the longest; and as it was the clear intention of the testator that the representative of the wife should not take the administration, and as there was no attempt on the part of those representatives to establish an intestacy, the Court decreed probate to the executors.