What are the principles to be applied in interpreting a will?

Saskatchewan, Canada


The following excerpt is from Grymaloski v. Dynal, 2005 SKQB 92 (CanLII):

In Jessop at p. 20, the court also quoted with approval from Re: Freeman; Hope v. Freeman, [1910] 1 Ch. 681 at 691, to describe the principles to be applied in interpreting a will. The court stated: There are only two principles to be applied. The first principle is that which every court of construction has to apply in every will case which comes before it. That is that it is the duty of the court of construction to read the language of the testator and to ascertain his intention from the words he has used. On the one hand the court must not vary his language, on the other hand it must not tie itself so strictly down to the literal meaning of the words as to give the go-by to the intention which is to be found expressed in the words. The second principle is that a clear gift in a will is not to be cut down by anything subsequent which does not with reasonable certainty indicate the intention of the testator to cut it down . . .

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