Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture, in the year one thousand nine hundred and two, by THE CARSWELL COMPANY, Limited.

PREFACE.

The law of Ontario relating to executors and administrators is like all other branches of the law of this Province founded upon that of England. The English law has been superseded to such an extent by local legislation that the more important matters with which executors and administrators have to deal are now regulated not by Imperial statutes but by Provincial enactments. For instance, the Devolution of Estates, Succession Duties, Investments by Trustees, the Management of Estates by Trusts Corporations are all provided for by Ontario Acts. The standard English text book is Williams on Executors, but it is not easy to find out from it or any other English text book what is law in Ontario and what is not. The present volume is an attempt to satisfy this want as far as concerns the law relating to executors and administrators.

I have had in view also in the arrangement of the book a contribution towards a codification of the law. It is possible by collating the statute law and the common law as laid down in text books and in reports of cases to compile a fairly complete statement of the law as it exists with regard to any given subject. Having this object in view the text has been arranged by paragraphs which are numbered. If these paragraphs correctly state the law and do not omit essential points, it is evident that some advance towards codification has been made. I would be glad to think that my efforts in this direction have been partially successful.

The reader will find nothing in these pages dealing with the mode of making a will or as to the mode of proving a