Article Comparing Testamentary Formalities

Reinhard Zimmermann (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law), Kenneth Reid (Professor of Law, University of Edinburgh – School of Law), and Marius J. De Waal (Professor of Private Law, Stellenbosch University School of Law) recently published their article entitled, Testamentary Formalities in Historical and Comparative Perspective, 1 Testamentary Formalities, Comparative Succession Law 432 (2011). The abstract of the article available on SSRN is below:

This essay is the concluding chapter of a project analysing testamentary formalities in historical and comparative perspective. It provides an assessment of the overall development of the law in the countries surveyed, as well as some wider reflections on the nature and purpose of testamentary formalities. More specifically, the essay focuses on the salient features of holograph wills, witnessed wills, public wills, and special wills; it analyses shared features (such as the requirements of the testator’s signature, witnesses, date, unitas actus, incorporation of formal documents, wills by disabled persons); and it discusses the steady shift away from strict formalism which is a significant theme in many legal systems.