POLS 245 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Testator, Life Insurance, Precedent
20 Oct 2016
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Riggs vs palmer: francis palmer- widower who remarried (sometimes referred to as testator/ October 4, 2016 decedent: riggs and preston (daughters) small legacies, elmer palmer (grandson) vast majority of the estate. Poisons grandfather: grandfather suggests he will change the will so palmer kills grandfather to ensure his inheritance. Court decision: elmer does not get his inheritance. You cannot inherit from someone who you killed for the purposes of preventing a change to the will. Court reasoning: when interpreting the law, you must take into account the intention of the law makers. Reference to a case where a beneficiary taken out a life insurance policy on someone they murdered (ny mutual life) Similar results should come from this case: elmer intervened and the will may have changed if the murder had not occurred, civil code, public policy and morality, the spirit of the law. Law makers cannot come up with everything so we must interpret.
