The act or process of proving a will. The proof before an ordinary, surrogate, register, or other duly authorized person that a document produced before him for official recognition and registration , and alleged to be the last will and testament of a certain deceased person, is such in reality. The copy of the will, made out in parchment or due form, under the seal of the ordinary or court of probate , and usually delivered to the executor or administrator of the deceased, together with a certificate of the will’s having been proved, is also commonly called the “probate.” In the canon law, “probate” consisted of probatio, the proof of the will by the executor, and approbation, the approbation given by the ecclesiastical judge to the proof. 4 Reeve, Eng. Law, 77. And see In re Spiegelhalter Will, 1 Pennewill (Del.) 5, 39 Atl. 405; McCay v. Clayton, 119 Pa. 133, 12 Atl. SCO; Pettit v. Black, 13 Neb. 142, 12 N. W. 841; Reno v. McCully, 05 Iowa, 029, 22 N. W. 902; Appeal of Dawley, 10 R. I. 094, 19 Atl. 248.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
