It is a remarkable fact that, while the sister country of England can boast of numberless collections of old wills and testaments, Ireland, which has such a wealth of ancient churches, crosses, and monuments scattered over the length and breadth of the land, should possess so few documents of a testamentary character prior to the middle of the sixteenth century.
From the earliest times the ecclesiastical courts claimed jurisdiction in the matter of wills, but the books of the Common Law observe, that the foundation of this right which the Church possessed, was by special concession from the secular power—namely, from successive kings.
If a freeman die intestate, the administration shall belong to the Church and his friends; but, in the first instance, debts due to others, clear and acknowledged, ought to be deducted, among which are to be reckoned servants' wages, and stipends of assistants, provided they be certain in amount. Expenses of the funeral ought also to be deducted, and the wife should have her necessaries up to her quarantine (40 days within which dower ought to be assigned), unless dower be sooner assigned her.
