John McLean

“ This would be repugnant to the authority given to his executors to lay off a town, and would have been an abandonment of what appears, from the last clause in the will to have been, with him, a favorite object. Did he intend the tract of two hundred acres should be valued and divided among his sons, which he directed in another part of his will to be laid off into town lots and sold by his executors? So great an inconsisency is not to be inferred. The general devise to his sons 'of all his lands,' was limited to the lands which he directed to be valued and divided among his sons. ”

“ If the town lots passed by the will of the testator to his sons, then Newit Vick is entitled to one-third. His answer is a cross-bill, and should have been retained, and, upon a final hearing, one-third allotted to him. I will refer the court to the laws of Mississippi, to show that all the legitimate children inherit equal share and share alike, and also to Swinburn, 20, 21, 22, 638, 639. The meaning of the testator is all that is sought after by the judges. There is another principle of law universally admitted to be correct, that heirs are not to be disinherited by a doubtful construction. ”

“ If the object of the testator had been, as contended, merely to charge this tract with the payment of his debts, would the words, 'for the use and benefit of all my heirs,' have been inserted? The sentence was complete without them. They add nothing to its clearness or force. On the contrary, if the intention of the testator was to pay his debts only, by the sale of lots to be laid off, the words are surplusage. ”