The essence of a will is said to be threefold namely: The testament (1) can be set aside or revoked 5 (2) It can affect property not in possession of the testator at the date of execution, but acquired before death; (3) It can make a representative to act for the testator when he is dead. In the twelth century a man could not give away his freehold land by will; it was not so allowed until 1540. Even then the lawyers held that it could only affect land that was in the testator's possession when his will was made, and this remained good law until 1837; but in any case the will was revocable. It had no action until its owner died.
The English will is the old Saxon Cwide. In the oldest form there was no expressed difficulty in a man giving something at the moment of writing, yet retaining possession for life. He could both give away and keep his land. Later it became impossible, since no gift took effect without delivery (seisin). This ancient doctrine is known as the post-obit gift. The second important characteristic of a will was the death-bed confession. Confession consists of three stages : contrition, the actual act of confession, and the amendment. The real purport of many of the clauses in early wills appears to be an endeavour to satisfy the priest of the dying man's real earnestness about his amendment.
