Kidwell v The Master

In Kidwell v The Master, an important case in the South African law of succession, the testator had signed right at the bottom of the will; thus there was about half a blank page between the end of the will (which included the witnesses’ signatures) and the testator’s signature. The question before the court was where the end of the will was. The court held that the will was invalid as it did not comply with section 2(1)(a)(i) of the Wills Act. This case has been criticised as being a very harsh decision, as the over riding criteria for the courts should be to give effect to the wishes of the testator, and this case did not do this over something seemingly insignificant.