M'Grigor and Others (Bertram's Marriage-Contract Trustees) v. M'Grigor and Others

In a competition between the heirs in mobilibus of the deceased, and the special and residuary legatees under her will, held — diss . Lord Rutherfurd Clark—(1) that the will had been revoked by the marriage-contract; (2) that it could not be taken as a valid exercise of the power of appointment contained in the latter deed; and (3) that the whole property of the deceased went to her heirs in mobilibus .

On 5th November 1879 Mrs Jessie Merry Forrester or Matheson, the widow of John Matheson junior, Glasgow, executed a testamentary settlement, by which she appointed A. B. M'Grigor and C. D. Donald, both writers in Glasgow, to be her executors.

Mr Bertram renounced all right of courtesy and legal share of moveables which he or his representatives could claim on the death of his wife.

This was a special case to which A. B. M'Grigor and others, the marriage-contract trustees of Mr and Mrs Bertram were the first parties ; A. B. M'Grigor, the surviving executor under the settlement executed by Mrs Bertram on 5th November 1879, was the second party ; the special legatees under Mrs Bertram's settlement were the third parties ; the residuary legatees under Mrs Bertram's settlement were the fourth parties ; and Mrs Bertram's heirs in mobilibus were the fifth parties .

It has been contended for the parties interested, first , that there is no express revocation in the marriage-contract of the previous settlement, and also that the disposition in the previous settlement, being a disposition of a special subject, cannot presumably be revoked by a general disposition in a later deed; and secondly , it is said that the clause in the marriage-contract by which Mrs Bertram reserved to herself a power of appointment contains certain words which by their construction read into it the residuary clause in the settlement of 1879.