cannot include public bodies, companies or the like.
110: I am now satisfied that I can hear and determine this matter. This is an action between Marisa Baker and Jennifer Forbes, and it relates to this particular will and the legislation that governs it. If others wish to use my findings with respect to other legislation, the appropriateness of that course of action will be considered in light of the legislation in issue and the circumstances of that case. It is not for me to pre-empt such matters.
A ‘person’
111: The issue I must decide upon, therefore, is whether David Baker was a “person” for the purposes of the Wills Act at the time he signed the Will, being 17 June 2023. It is Marisa’s case that David was either never a person, or ceased to be a person on or about 7 May 2023, being the date on which the first evidence of mental instability was recorded.
112: “Person” is a term which has rarely been controversial – and certainly never with respect to a walking, talking entity such as David Baker. As stated above, the Interpretation Act tells us that “person” includes public bodies, companies and the like. That of course is of no assistance, presupposing as it does that “person” in the walking, talking sense requires no definition.
113: The term is defined (relevantly) in the Compact Oxford English Dictionary as follows:
noun (pl. people or persons) 1. a human being regarded as an individual. 2. an individual’s body: concealed on his person.
114: If this were to be accepted as the appropriate definition, I am left with the duty to define the term “human being” and “individual”. It is not disputed that David was a peculiarly individual character – whether he was a human being or not is the very debate.
115: Neither of the solicitors in this action, nor my own investigations, have been able to locate a definition of “human being” in any relevant legislation. It appears that, like “person”, it is considered so obvious as not to require definition. In simpler times, that was no doubt the case.
116: Marisa states her case as follows in the Statement of Claim:
18. The Deceased was not, at the time of signing the Will, a “person” for the purposes of the Wills Act 1970 (WA).