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he was not personally guilty of wilful default, and
that the words "on behalf of any person" were
only satisfied if he had either expressly or im-
pliedly authorised the fraud or wilful default of
another person or had ratified it. It was held
ihat
the Crown was entitled to succeed. It was not
surprising if Parliament, when it decided to allow
assessment, to be re-opened and penalties claimed
at any time, if fraud or wilful default was proved,
should have wished to cover cases where the fraud
or wilful default was committed by an agent, and
it could not be proved that the taxpayer was
privy to
it. On their natural construction the
words "on behalf of any person" were perfectly
clear, and there was no justification for reading
them
in
the restricted sense suggested by
the
taxpayer.
(Clixby v. Pountney (Inspector of Taxes),
The
Times,
December 12th, 1967).
Attestation of Will by Beneficiary
The testator made a will leaving the whole of his
estate to his two daughters by his first wife. After
he had obtained the signature of two strangers
as witnesses, he asked his daughters to add their
signatures "to make it stronger". They signed in
accordance with the wishes of their father. Their
application on motion for probate of the will was
granted, with the omission of their signatures,
notwithstanding the opposition of the widow, the
second wife of the deceased, from whom he had
been
judicially separated. Held, allowing
the
appeal, that in spite of the testators' intentions
the defeat of which would be irrelevant if the
contrary provisions of the section were applicable,
the evidence was insufficient to rebut the pre
sumption that a gift to an attesting witness was
void Per Russell L.J. :
a change in the law with
regard to s. 15 of the Wills Act, 1837 would be
welcome.
In the Estate of Bravda (1968) 112 SJ. 137.
The Times,
February 3rd, 1968, C.A.);
[1968]
2 All. E.R. p. 217.
[Note—A Bill (The Wills Bill 1968) to rectify
this position has already passed through all stages
in the House of Commons on March 15th, 1968
and the Lords gave the Bill [No. 80] a second
reading on 29th April—see also Succession Act
1965, Section 78].
LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS TO 1st APRIL
1968
(1) PURCHASES
ABRAHAM
(L.A.) and S.C. HAWTREY—A
Parliamentary Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1964.
ALL ENGLAND LAW REPORTS Index and
Notes—Year 1965.
ASPINAL—Reports
of Maritime Law
cases
—(1870-1940). Index Volume 1961.
ATIYAH (P.S.)—Vicarious Liability in the Law
of Torts, 1967.
ATKIN (Lord)—Encyclopaedia of Court Forms
in Civil Proceedings,
2nd End. ed. Evershed
—
Volumes
1
(Actions
to Accounts Stated)
2
(Administration Actions),
4
(Affiliation
to
Animals), 6 (Appearance to Banking), 8 (Bills
of Exchange to Carriers), 12 (Compromise to
Copyright), 13
(Coroners
to County Courts),
16
(Divorce
and Matrimonial Causes),
17
(Durham Chancery Court to Easements), 20
(Intoxicating Liquor to Land Registration), 24
(Landlord and Tenant), 25
(Lands Tribunal
to Master and Servant),
26
(Mortgage
to
National Insurance), 29
(Negligence
to Ori
ginating Summonses), 30
(Parties
to Actions
to Pawns and Pledges), 34 (Restrictive Cove
nants
to Sale of Land), 36
(Settlements
to
Solicitors), 37 (Specific Performance to Third
Party Procedure),
38
(Town
and Country
Planning to Trade Marks), 39 (Transfer and
Consolidation—to Trespass to Land)—and 41
(Trusts
to Writs of Summons) plus Service
Volume.
BAILEY (SJ.)—Law of Wills, 6th Edn., 1967
(Two Copies).
BOLAND
(W)
and
J. SAYER—Oaths
and
Affirmations, 2nd Edn., 1961.
BROWN
(N)
and
J.
F. GARNER—French
Administrative Law, 1967.
BEATTIE (C.N.)—The Elements of Estate Duty,
5th Edn., 1966.
BROWNLIE (lan)—Principles of Public Inter
national Law, 1966.
BROWNLIE
(lan)—Law Relating
to
Public
Order, 1968.
CHARLESWORTH
(J)—Company Law,
8th
Edn, 1965.
CROSSLEY-VAINES
(J)—Personal
Property,
4th Edn, 1967 (Two Copies).
CHARLESWORTH (J)—Principles of Mercan
tile Law, llth Edn, 1967 (Three copies).
CAHN (Edmund)—Confronting Injustice, 1967.
CROSS (R)—The Law of Evidence, 3rd Edn,
1967.
CROSS (R) and N. Wilkins—Outline of the Law
of Evidence, .nd Edn., 1968.
CRIMINAL APPEAL REPORTS—Index
to
Vols. 1-51, 1968.
CURZON (T.B.)—Equity, 1967.
CURRENT LAW CITATOR—1947-1966.
CURRENT LAW YEARBOOK, 1966.
109